Blood, Thunder and Steel
by metaldragon868
Summary: 70 years ago, something came from elsewhere and altered the path of the Avatar world. Today, two sisters accidentally do it again. After befriending Korra, they help guide her through a darker tale in a city on the edge of madness. There she'll learn not everything is as it seems. Her faith is tested in those she thought she could trust, and she must survive a war for the city.
1. Scene 1: Space Magic Sucks

Scene 1 Chap 1

Mk2

Space Magic Sucks.

 _A/n: Update 11/23/2015_

 _Changed the intro_

 _A lot_

 _I'm doing that with a lot of things this month so, you know, hold onto you're pants._

 _Seriously, this chapter's increased by 50%._

 _Also, did some tweaks to what is said, what people know, and what happens. Nothing too major, doesn't really change anything that's going to happen down the line much. It's just, I felt like these first couple of chapters could be better. SO you could think of this as being a kind of re-write of the first chap._

 _If you want, latter I'll post the original versions._

 _Don't really know why you would want to do that, but whatever._

 _Enjoy the new awesome chap_

* * *

My world is a wonderful, beautiful place, filled with incredible people who can do incredible things. Some can control the very elements themselves, something we call bending, and we call them benders. It's not an incredibly rare gift, but not everyone can do it, probably about 25-10% of people are benders.

Here, the world is mostly split up by benders since the type of bender you are is determined by race.

Fire benders come from the Fire Nation in the Fire Islands.

Earth benders come from the Earth Kingdom on the main continent.

Water benders come from the Water Tribes in the poles and swamps.

And air benders come from the Air Nomads who lived in the Air Temples that doted the mountains of the world.

Then, there's the Avatar.

The Avatar is one of the most powerful and important being in this world. Here, the avatar is someone who is chosen by the spirits to be the bridge between the spirit world and the human world. Unlike anyone else in the whole world, they can bend _all_ the elements, no just one of the four primaries.

There can only be one Avatar at a time. Each Avatar is the reincarnation of the one before him or her. That being said, they don't have to be anything like their predecessor. The can male, female, violent, timid.

Anything

That, and a whole of other perks and responsibilities come from being the ambassador between worlds. That being said, the worst part is probably having to deal with the legacy of my predecessors being compared to me.

My predecessor, Aang, is often heralded as a hero for becoming a fully realized Avatar and stopping the 100 years war started by the Fire Nation when he was only 12. The Fire nation, about 170 years ago, started a war against the world. As a result of it the air benders were almost completely eradicated from the world, Aang was the last one left.

Since I'm alive that means he died, but he died peacefully in his sleep from old age, and he left a family behind to carry on the legacy of the Air Nomads. And that was after a life filled with adventures, heroics, and fighting to bring peace, balance, and harmony throughout the world.

In fact the only failure in his past, other than being frozen in a ball of ice for 100 years and missing a lot of the war, was the Kyoshi incident.

The Kyoshi incident is what we call something that happened over several months, and ended at Kyoshi Island. Unlike most of his adventures, Katara and Zuko have been unable, or unwilling, to tell me everything that happened. Frankly I think it's a bit of both.

The Kyoshi incident started a few years after Aang stopped the 100 years war, during a period of peace and rebuilding. It started when several things happened at once.

First, princess Azula of the Fire Nation. She was a supporter of the war and "Burn everything" plan the Fire Nation had at the end of the war, and was thrown in an insane asylum for being mentally unstable and violent, as well as being an extremely dangerous traitor. Well she broke out of her prison somehow.

Even today, no one seems to know _how_ exactly she did it. At least, Zuko and Katara have never told me if they knew. She just seemed to vanish from her padded cell. When she finally _did_ turn up again, she appeared in the Earth Kingdom.

Second, somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, towns and villages started to…die. I don't know what happened to them, exactly. When people came across them it's as if the entire town experienced a winter in the South Pole. Everything, even the _people_ were frozen solid. And I don't mean they were frozen in a block of ice, I mean their bodies themselves were frozen.

Everything in each town found like this was dead. Nothing was spared. Women, children, the elderly. Even the pets. It's like the entire town suddenly dropped to -40 Celsius.

The worst part, was their faces. You could tell by looking at them that this wasn't just some odd weather phenomenon, _something_ did this. Everyone is looking towards and running away from… _something_. No one's ever told me what was responsible for this atrocity, and I don't really know what could cause it.

It was known as the Spirit of Winter.

Finally, there was the Augustine, the Iron Dragon. The Iron Dragon was an enigma. Non one really knows too much about him. I don't even know where he came from or what he actually looks like. He walked around wearing heavy metal armor with a helmet stylized to resemble a dragon's head, which is how he got the name. That being said, that's not the only reason he's known as the Iron Dragon.

He was a metal bender.

A powerful one at that.

Keep in mind, Toph had only just invented metal bending for our world a few years before he showed up. Supposedly he was a master at it, even putting Toph to shame, though he used it sparingly. Unlike most benders he didn't actually use it too much. He would use it on his armor and weapons on occasion, and sometimes to create restraints for people, but he didn't use it as a primary form of attack. Instead he used his indestructible armor, powerful Warhammer, versatile handheld bombs, and magical metal rod to overpower or outsmart his opponents.

More importantly, unlike the spirit of winter, the Iron Dragon was a hero. Where the Spirit of Winter brought nothing but death as it carved its way through the Earth Kingdom, the Iron Dragon went helping people, saving them from bandits and rouge soldiers.

Apparently all of them Aang, Azula, the Spirit of Winter, and the Iron Dragon, were all searching for something. The same thing, really. I don't know what it was, or how Azula knew about it, but it was known as the Artifact, and it fell from elsewhere, maybe even the Spirit World, just before they appeared. Whatever it was, it was powerful. It fell into many hands during the Kyoshi incident, and it took several months any of the four groups to find it. By the time it did, it was on Kyoshi Island, where the final battle for the Artifact took place.

Before the final battle, Aang and his friends ran into the Iron Dragon a few times, though they weren't exactly the best of friends at first. Apparently they had a rough couple of meetings.

On top of that, since Azula escaped from prison someone had to track her down, because at the time no one knew she was after the Artifact too. That someone was Sokka, my teacher Katara's older brother, and it was a decision they regretted for the rest of their lives.

The final battle at Kyoshi Island was intense, and after several hours of searching and fighting, it was the Spirit of Winter versus the Iron Dragon. The battle ended with the disappearance of the Iron Dragon, the Spirit of Winter, the Artifact, and Kyoshi Island being frozen over.

When I say frozen over, I don't mean it just got cold, or even what happened to the villages the Spirit of Winter visited previously. No.

Instead the entire island and the surrounding waters for a few miles were frozen in a giant glacier that never melts. Nothing can affect the ice, and the weather in the area never changes. It's like the very space itself in that region has become locked in time. Aang and his friends were lucky enough to escape themselves after recapturing Azula.

No one else did.

Everyone, and I mean Everyone, who lived on the island died being frozen in that block of ice, even Sokka's fiancé Suki. Shortly after Azula was recaptured, she escaped again after taking Sokka's life in the process.

Katara was never the same after that. She has her scars from the war on her, but the worst ones are the ones in her mind from the Kyoshis incident. Even after the incident she kept getting hurt. As a result of her more overprotective tendencies after the death of her brother, she accidently drove her daughter to run away from home when she was only 13, and she hasn't seen or heard from her since. She doesn't even know if she's still alive. Then, just a few years ago, her husband, Aang, died, and I was born.

She managed to find the will to live, but people say she's never been the same with all the people she's lost.

Azula, after escaping, became the most wanted woman in the world, but that didn't help at all. Despite the enormous bounty on her head, enough to fund a small army, she's never been found. There's been rumors here and there, but most people thinks she's died by now. But Katara still thinks she's out there, plotting to retake the Fire Nation throne someday, somehow.

Toph was also struck hard by the loses of the Kyohsi Incident. As a result she started to slowly draw away from Katara, Aang, and Zuko. Zuko seemed to think she had a thing for Sokka, which is why it might have affected her so strongly. Now nobody seems to know if she's even still alive, and no one seems to have close ties with her daughters.

Zuko, stead of pushing away from group like Toph, actually drew closer. As a result, the ties between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation grew close and strong, stronger then the bonds with South's sister tribe in the north. Distance also had its part to play in this, since the Fire Nation is so much closer to the Southern Water Tribe than its northern sister, which is literally on the other side of the world. I even got to meet the royal family from time to time.

Then there's Augustine the Iron Dragon. No one _really_ knows what happened to him. Most seem to think he died in that Iceberg like everyone else did. Before the final battle, Aang's group and the Iron Dragon weren't on the best of terms, though no one really seems to tell me why. After seeing the Iron Dragon sacrifice himself to stop the Spirit of Winter, though, they changed their opinion about him.

Yeah, Kyohsi Island was lost in the process, but considering the Spirit was strong enough to fight and even _overpower_ Aang in the avatar state, it could have been a lot worse. As a result he's been remembered as a hero, and there's a huge monument in Republic city to him and the Kyoshi incident. Tales told about him and his heroics as he travelled through the Earth Kingdom have been told throughout the world, and while he isn't nearly as famous or loved as Aang was, he is incredibly well known despite being such an enigma.

That being said, while most people think he died, I think differently. I don't know why, but I think he managed to find a way back home, back to the people who knew him, cared about him, and loved him.

Then there's me. Korra. I'm the next avatar, and while I love being the avatar, being constantly compared to my predecessor makes me feel like a failure. Aang was a fully realized Avatar at _12_ , I'm 18 and I can't even blow a puff of air. At 12 he ended a war that set the world on fire. I have never even left the icy white lotus compound in the South Pole. He was a powerful avatar who was charismatic and always spoke of peace and balance, always looking for a way to resolve the situation peacefully.

Me? I'm brash, violent, and impulsive. I'm always too quick to go to violence, instead of looking for different methods. I'm still trapped in this compound because the elders, even Katara, think I'm still too dangerous to be let out of my cage. They don't think I'm worthy of being the avatar, like Aang was. They think that the spirits made a mistake picking me. Despite being the bridge between the Spirit World and the Human World, I don't even have the barest amount of spirituality in me, unlike Aang, who was the perfect bridge between worlds.

They never say it out loud, of course, but I can see it in their eyes. In their actions. In the way they never let me out of their sight. They don't trust me to be able to behave myself, to not make a fool of myself or destroy everything.

Even Katara, despite loving me like her own child, doesn't trust me to go off by myself.

And it hurts. It hurts like nothing else. I have no one else here. I can't even seem my parents. I don't know what they're doing, nobody lets me see them or anyone I could be friends with because it "could distract me from my Avatar duties.". They say that, and it might be true, but I know the real reason.

They're afraid of what I could do to them. I've hurt trainers before with my bending on accident. I crushed someone's arm once when earth bending, burned someone with firebending, and I even cut of someone's hand once with a water blade. I'm dangerous, I know that, but that was years ago. I've learned how to hold back. How to keep my bending under control.

I just wish they could trust me enough to have a friend.

It's the day of my fire bending mastery exam, and I'm right in the middle of it, throwing fireballs right and left, blocking, countering going on the offensive when I see an opening. Despite the normally cold climate of the South Pole right now it's sweltering with all the flames being thrown around. Out of the corner of my eye I can occasionally see my teachers, or wardens really, judging me, criticizing my every move. I know what their probably saying too, "She's powerful but shows no restraint", "she's out of control", "She's too dangerous to be allowed outside". I know, I've heard it before, but I don't care what they say, only one person's opinion actually matters to me, Katara's.

As I'm fighting my opponents I know that two of the three are still up and right now it's in a momentary lull in combat, the calm before the storm, the tension is so thick it's suffocating, but this is what I live for, this is all I've trained for, this is my life. I brace myself, eyes darting back and forth, keeping constant watch on both my opponents so they don't catch me off guard. I'm ready for the slightest sign of movement, ready to strike.

Then out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of purple light, a distortion in the air from intense heat, and a flick of movement. From there instinct takes over, I don't even need to think about it, I spin around and hurl a fireball behind me at full strength, and full expecting the person to deflect or block my attack I move to send more fire at them with a kick, only to be stopped by the sickening sound of someone screaming for their life.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It takes me a moment to realize it but all three of my sparing partners are already accounted for, as is everyone else, nobody who was supposed to by nearby was where the figure had been, and when that realization struck my heart stopped, my body froze, time slows to a crawl, I couldn't think, I could only turn back to the figure and watch.

There I see the figure, engulfed in flames, being burned alive by _my_ fire. I can see as the flames consume their body how their skin melts, how their face contorts in sheer agony at feeling their entire body being immolated by _my_ fire. I can see the pain, and the fear in their eyes, well what's left of their eyes, and I can see them attempt to put out the fire themselves by dropping on the ground and rolling, but it's a futile effort, my fire is too hot to simply be put out like that.

While I'm frozen like a statue the healers react by throwing water on the stranger, finally putting them out, but by then they had stopped screaming, I don't know whether it's because they're dead or just unconscious. I pray to the spirits it's the latter.

They had taken the stranger to the medical station, and the best healers, especially Katara, had worked on the stranger till night. At this point the stranger had stabilized, they weren't in immediate danger of dying, but they there were in a coma. They had also discovered the stranger was a girl, so it's more like she was in a coma.

 _Because of me._ I thought to myself.

A couple days later I was sitting across from her in the room she was put in, just looking at her, praying to the spirits that she would get better, that she would wake up, that this was all just a dream and that I would wake up. But no, this nightmare was reality, all my teachers were completely right about me, I'm too violent, out of control, unrestrained. I can't go out into the world yet, I'm too dangerous, I'm no avatar, I'm a monster that hurts innocent bystanders because she can't control herself. Someone who uses violence as a first resort.

Even master Tenzin wouldn't allow me to learn air bending yet. He had come by earlier only to tell me that I can't start my air bending training yet because things in Republic city are getting too dangerous for me. Despite what he said I know the real reason he won't teach me is because he heard about the incident with the stranger and he thinks I'm too dangerous and out of control to learn air bending, let alone go out to the city.

It's telling really, even the master of air bending, the element of freedom, doesn't think I should be free.

 _I deserve to be locked up in this place, I'm a threat to everyone around me._

Suddenly I realized that there was a faint glow in the room, at first I thought it might be sunlight coming in from the windows, as the room was dark with no lights on. But then as I looked up I realized that the glow was coming from the girl, it was leaking out from the bandages that covered her burnt body. I had no idea what was going on, and frankly, it scared me a little bit.

All over her body the bandages were stretched tight, and some even snapped and tore themselves open, revealing what should have been burnt, melted, skin, but instead it revealed light. Soon the glow faded away and the room became and quiet and dark once again.

For two whole seconds.

"GHUUHHH!" She gasped as she lurched forward sitting upright, taking in a deep breath of air.

Her eyes shot open, and for a moment it looked like her irises were glowing, like two molten gold rings in a sea of darkness. At first it was all I could see of her, but soon my eyes adjusted to the darkness again, and her eyes no longer glowed.

She seemed to be grumbling to herself about something as she ripped all the bandages off her face and arms. I was still too stunned at what I was witnessing to do anything about it, had I been competent I might have insisted that she stay in bed and get her rest.

She got up from the bed and started to look around the room in the darkness, looking for something, all while muttering to herself and removing the bandages on her arms. Suddenly she stopped with her back turned to me and just froze.

She slowly turned around and looked me straight in the eye and said, " oooohhhh,… hey there…um…you. How much exactly did you just see of…that?"

Her voice was still somewhat rough and dry, but considering she had been burned alive it sounded pretty good, which only worked to sustain my stunned state. The only words I could get out were, "I…uh…you…glowy…how?"

"Oh, great, so all of it then. Wonderful, wonderful." She said sarcastically, anxious displeasure at this unforeseen turn of events evident in her voice.

"Sooooo, I'm gonna ask you to not scream at the top of your lungs, 'cause I just wanna let you know that I'm not here to hurt you, OK? So just calm down, and let's have a nice conversation, and _maybe_ I can get some clothes."

 _You, hurt me? I'm the one who almost killed you! She must not know that it was me! If she does, will she attack me? Try and get revenge for my unprovoked attack? Will she fear me?_

All these thoughts ran through my mind as I tried to think of to say and do. At first I thought of just covering up the fact that I scarred her, but then I decided that it was better to be honest and face my punishment up front, I deserved it after all.

"I'm sorry" I said shakily while bowing to show my sincerity.

"Whoa whoa whoa, sorry for what?"

"I…uh…was the one who…um…burned you." I said cautiously before rushing out the rest. "I didn't meant too, I just saw a flash of movement behind me, thought it was one of my opponents and reacted, I didn't mean for you to get hurt, but I'll gladly take any punishment you find suitable."

"Wait, you did that?!" She said shocked, but surprisingly with no anger in her words, just surprise and curiosity.

"Uh…yes?" I said, shaken by how well this girl seemed to be taking it.

"Aren't you...mad?" I asked tentatively

She simply shrugged in response and said, "Nah" Casually, as if I had done no more than accidentally bump into her.

"Wh-bu-how? Why not?! I _roasted you alive!_ Shouldn't you be a little more concerned about it?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't understand how someone could just shrug off being burned alive, being almost killed, even if it was an accident.

"Eh, it's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Not even the worst time I've been roasted." SHe explained again, just as casually with a flipant shrug. I even heard her mutter, " Shit, I even have all my limbs this time."

Her explanation threw me off, leaving me stunned for a few seconds while I just _processed_ what she said.

 _She said this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to her. How is that even possible? As far as I know being burned alive sounds like the most painful way to die. And that's another thing! How is she even alive let alone fully healed! Even after years and years of water healing she should still have been covered in horrendous burns! And yet...if I didn't see it myself I'd never believe it._ I thought to myself as my mind raced with the possible explanations. I wasn't someone who generally thought things through much, I admit that, but even to me this seemed to be...odd.

I didn't really know how to approach this really. I haven't really talked to too many people, especially new people, so my social skills are a bit lacking. Not only that but my teachers never really trained my for anything like this. All they really seemed to do was teach me how to fight. That being said, I will admit that I've rarely objected to that.

However, while I was simply stunned by her reactions and frozen in fear and nervousness for how to go about this, she was not.

"Yeah, I'm not particularly angry at you or anything, I was just a little caught off guard. I mean, shoot, I'm more interested in how the hell you did that than swearing revenge on you for burning me. Besides, it's not like any permanant damage was done, right? No harm, no foul." She said after a couple seconds, shaking me out of my stupor.

One thing in particular stood out to me, however, in her statement.

 _She doesn't know how I set her on fire? Isn't it obvious? Fire bending._ I thought to myself.

"I used fire bending" I answered cautiously

"Fire bending?" She seemed confused and doubtful of this answer

"Yes, fire bending"

"And that is…?"

I was shocked. She didn't know what fire bending was.

 _She doesn't know what fire bending is? How? Does she even know what bending is?_

"You know, Fire bending". And I make my point by holding up my right hand in front of my face and lighting it on fire.

The fire bathes the entire room in light and I finally get to see the strange girl before me, and what I see makes me gasp and widen my eyes in surprise. She is unlike anyone I have ever seen before.

People from the water tribes tend to have a dark tan skin tone, at least compared to the people from other nations. One time I heard a white lotus sentry compare it to caramel in color, I don't really know what that is though, Katara never let me have any. If my skin was like caramel, though, than hers was as dark as the black coffee I saw the sentries drinking, darker than anyone else's that I've ever seen, ever, and that's what struck me most immediately, her black skin.

Then I gazed at her brown eyes, they were looking at me with a look of sudden understanding, like what I had just done reminded her what fire bending was or something.

Then I noticed her toned, muscular, body, taking note of how the bandages she was wrapped in were tightly covering her body. She was taller than me, probably just as muscular, but her skin was glistening, covered in what kind of looked like sweat, but thicker.

Her hair was pitch black, blending in with the darkness of the room and her skin, but against the white bandages it was easy to tell that it was slightly beyond shoulder length, it was messy and disorganized, tangled up in its thick, course, curly self.

"Oooh! Fire magic! Ahhh, okay, that makes sense" She said, finally understanding what I was talking about, which knocked me out of my daze.

 _Wait, fire_ _magic_ _? That's not…no it's fire bending! What is she talking about?_

"No no no, not magic, Fire _Bending_." I corrected

She looked at me skeptically with one brow raised, like I had just said the stupidest thing in the world, which was ironic because she was the one who said the stupid thing.

"Fire bending?"

"Yes"

"Bullshit" she deadpanned

"What!" I said, offended at how she talked like she knew more about something I have been doing for my entire life.

"That's" She said, pointing at my burning hand, "Magic"

"No, it's bending. Bending!" I said frantically point at my burning hand with my left one to help get my point across. It didn't work.

"Bending is something you do to a straw, or a joint, or the rules." She said gesticulating at the absurdity of my claim. "Setting your hand on fire or throwing fireballs is magic! Or fancy science."

"Bending is not Magic! It is an ancient traditional art that uses your own chi to create fire, or move water, earth, or air!"

"Yeah! Magic!"

"Not Magic!"

"How is that _not_ magic exactly?"

"I just explained that!"

"No, you said what 'bending' was, what I want to know is how that is not magic?" She said using air quotes

"Because Magic is….

...um….

...crap." I said, furious at first before I realized I didn't really know how to counter her argument. "It's just not the same!" I said stubbornly

"Wow, great argument, clearly you are a master of words." She said flatly before giving me a slow clap.

"Shut up!"

"How 'bout this, I'll call it magic, and you can keep calling it 'bending', you know, tomato tomato." She suggested as a compromise.

"What? Tomato tomato?" I said, not understanding the phrase.

"Do you even know your abc's?" she asked mocking me. Unfortunately I didn't know what she was talking about

"My what?"

"Holy. Fucking. Shit, you are _the_ dumbest piece of shit I've ever met." She said stunned

"Shut up!"

"Whatever, that just means that you'll call it one thing, I call it something else, because where I come from that's magic, but according to you they call it 'bending' here, so I'll respect your customs. Well, some of them at least."

"Oh! Really? Okay, I guess I can agree to that."

"Unless it turns out you're an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Well, now that that's cleared up, I will forgive you for burning me alive on one condition."

"Okay…what's the condition?" I asked nervously, worried at what she would make me do.

"You and me gonna have a duel."

"Really?" I questioned, surprised at the surprisingly agreeable condition, but soon I found me confidence again. "Didn't I already kick your butt once?"

She gave a short snort of amusement before replying, "Sure, if you want to think of performing an unprovoked surprise attack on someone as a duel, then sure."

My face fell from its smug smirk once I realized she had a point.

 _Well, she has me there_

"I mean I usually call something like that an ambush, but whatever. If you want to consider that your 'win', then consider this a rematch."

"Okay, fine, you got yourself a deal."

"Now on to more important issues."

"Like?"

"Well first of all, I need clothes, cause I feel a bit naked right now." She said gesturing to her bandaged body, which was, in fact, otherwise naked, and despite her words she didn't actually look too uncomfortable.

I, however, after hearing her mention how she felt naked couldn't help but have my eyes roam her body to confirm that. As this happened I felt a strong blush cover my face and felt the urge to hide my face and look away

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'll go get you some."

After I came back with some of my clothes for her to wear since she looked like she was about my size, just a little taller. So when she put them on they fit her for the most part, the shirt was a little short and showed a bit of her midriff, but she didn't seem to mind.

She told me when she was done so I could turn around before she began to thank me.

"Well, thanks for letting me borrow some of your wardrobe…" She hesitated and paused, and then a strange look came over her face, as if she had forgotten something important. "Shit, I don't know your name."

"Oh, right. Yeah, we kind of skipped introductions."

"Yeah well, being set on fire tends to do that to a person." She joked, and in response I pouted.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, and after I exact my revenge in a 'friendly rematch', I will have forgiven you." she said with a grin that held mysterious and not entirely pure intentions.

At the way she said "friendly rematch" I suddenly became concerned about what she was actually planning to do to me in the duel.

"But enough of that, my name is Sarah." She said introducing herself

"My name's Korra, and I'm the avatar" I replied, introducing myself with a smug smirk. As much as my teachers told me humility was important, I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride about being the avatar, and I loved the reactions that some people gave me when they discovered I was the avatar.

While I wasn't exactly expecting her to bow down and grovel at my feet from my revelation, her reaction was somewhat…unexpected.

She raised an eyebrow at the mention of the avatar.

"Uhuh, okay, well it's good to meet you 'avatar' Korra." Sarah said mocking me

"You don't believe me do you?!" I said, irritated that she was doubting me, again

"Pft, whaaaaaat? Noooo, I totally believe that you're the 'avatar'." She scoffed with a dismissive hand wave.

"I'm telling the truth, I am the avatar!"

"No no, I _totally_ believe you." She said unconvincingly.

"Fine! I'll prove it!"

As soon as I said this I bent a stream of water from a nearby bowl and formed it into a sphere above my left hand.

 _Hah! This proves I'm the Avatar! I already showed her my fire bending, actually I already used it on her, but by water bending I'm showing her that I can bend two different elements! Something that only the Avatar can do! It's foolproof!_

I put on my biggest, most smug smirk I could, and waited for Sarah to realize the error of her ways and apologize. Sarah had other plans.

"…" Sarah just stared at me, not in wonder, not in amazement, not in reverence. She was looking at me expectantly, as if she expected me to do something more, something that actually proved I was the avatar.

After a few seconds of silence my smug smirk turned into an impatient glare.

 _What's wrong with her! I'm bending two elements! Something only the Avatar can do! Just accept I'm the Avatar already!_

"Cool." Is all she eventually said.

"Cool?"

"It's a…neat trick."

"A neat trick!" I replied, furious at how she was completely underwhelmed.

"Yeah, well, using different types of spells isn't really _that_ amazing of a feat for a mage."

"I've never heard of _Any Of That_!" I responded angrily. As I did my emotions bleed out into my bending and the ball of water react violently. Part of froze, creating a ball of ice in the center, while everything around it began to angrily twist and turn as it obeyed my commands. Parts of it even began to boil into steam.

She was about to respond when she noticed what I was doing, at that's when she went wide eyed.

"Whoa, okay, now that is special. Control magic is pretty hard to do for most mages." And under her breath she said, "At least the human ones."

"Wait, so me fire bending and water bending doesn't impress you at all, but me doing this does?" I asked skeptically, still confused as to these terms she was using to describe what I was doing.

"Well yeah, that actually might explain why you don't know what spells are, or what mages are, but then again I'm not really the expert on any of that magic stuff."

"Yeah, what are you talking about, I've never heard of magic explained in such a detailed way, it sounds like you _are_ an expert."

"Well I'm only well informed because I kind of have to be, you see I'm a metal mage, by which I mean I am an expert in metal control magic." She explained

I used what little she had already explained to mentally translate what she had said.

"So you're a metal bender! I've never met one before!" I said excitedly, despite passing my earth bending mastery, I hadn't learned metal bending, I hadn't even met a metal bender before, but I had heard tons of stories of about Toph and her metal benders.

"Yup. You want a demonstration?" She asked with a grin, apparently drink in my enthusiasm.

I nodded emphatically, hoping she would give me my first real glimpse of what metal bending can do. SHe nodded back in acknowledgment na dheld her hand out to the other metal chair in the room.

The chair began to rattle and shake before the the back rest of it was violently ripped away from the rest of the chair, the metal shrieking from the totruos treatment. The metal backrest flew into her outstretched hand and folded around itself. By the time she stopped bending it it hand become a tangled knot of metal."

"Cool." I said simply, stunned and amazed at what I had seen, which seemed to please Sarah as her grin grew even wider.

"To answer your earlier question, spells are basic commands mages can use to control the world, like making a ball of water or fire, but it can't do complicated stuff like what you were doing when you were fiddling with that ball of water. Control magic is about using magic to control the world directly, kind of. It's like the difference between telling someone to do something and doing it yourself." She explained, continuing on be going back to my earlier statements and questions.

"For example, you can tell someone to build you a sculpture, and they will, and from your perspective it will be pretty easy, just tell them what to do and they do it. That's a spell. With control magic you would be the one to make the sculpture, and it would take longer, it would take more effort, and it might not look as good, but if you're skilled enough at it then it will be much better than the one you just paid for."

"Do you know what mean?" Sarah said, finishing up her explanation, although she said it with a kind on accent such that it sounded more like, "Ya-naw-mean?

"Um… yeah I think I get it." I said, finally getting something of a handle on what she was saying, but I was still somewhat confused, I had never heard of spells, or any of this stuff about magic before, and if it was the same as bending, then shouldn't I know about it?

 _Maybe I should try harder to convince Katara to let me go out and see the world, if I know this little about bending then what else don't I know? How can I bring balance to a world I don't know or understand?_

"Oh, wait, when you used fire magic, was that control magic too?"

"Yes?" I said, kind of unsure of it myself. This whole magic thing was still something a little bit difficult for me to wrap my head around

"Well shit, now that is special, I guess that's what you meant when you said you were the avatar."

"Oh, well at least you understand now."

"Yeah… So what are you the avatar of?"

"What do you mean? I'm not the avatar of anything." I said, once again not understanding what she meant.

"Wha – how can you not be the avatar of anything? That's not how avatars work, it's like if you said you were a servant, but nobody was your master. It's part of the definition of the word _avatar_. If you're an avatar you have to have a master, or something you represent or something, right?"

"No, not really, as the avatar it's my job to keep balance between everything, I don't think I'm really representative of something."

"Actually you may have just answered your own question, if you're supposed to keep balance, then maybe you're the avatar of balance."

"I guess that makes sense. In any case, since you're a metal bender can you teach me how to metal bend? I've always wanted to learn but none of my teachers were able to teach it to me, I've never met a metal bender before."

"Oh? Well I don't really think I can teach you metal magic, that's not how it works, you have to have the initial talent for a particular element before you can use control magic for that element, most people can only use one. You, being an elemental, er, avatar, that is, can control two elements apparently, water and fire." She replied sadly

"You can't do any other types of control magic, at least from I know about magic, which admittedly, isn't a lot." She admitted

"But my teachers told me that as the avatar I'm supposed to be able to bend all the elements, I can already bend earth, fire, and water, and I'm supposed to learn air bending next." I said confused.

 _I thought everyone knew that the avatar could bend all four elements?_

"Oh! Really? I've never heard of anyone being able to control all the elements, not to mention more than two. I've heard of people being able to replicate the control of multiple elements, but that's not the same thing."

"But then again I'm not exactly an expert on how magic works and what you can do with it, maybe you're a fancy avatar-thing that lets you do fancy magical bullshit or something thanks to even more fancy magical bullshit." She said with a shrug.

"Wait, so you've never heard of the avatar?"

"Fuck no"

"How?"

"What do you mean?"

"How can you not have heard of the avatar? Everyone's heard of the avatar, it's like a famous legend or story, except true!"

"Obviously not famous enough." She retorted, which served to get under my nerves.

"What?" I said with one eyebrow twitching in frustration

"Yeah, maybe here the avatar is super famous, but I have never heard about it, and I've been all over the world."

"You know what, that actually brings me to another point, where in the hell am I?" She continued, gesturing to the room around her.

"Oh! After I …uh…nearly…killed you, the white lotus sentries and healers took you into this healing room to, well, keep you alive."

"Yes but where is this."

"The white lotus compound"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before saying, "I meant where in the fuck am I on Earth!"

"Oh, the South Pole."

"…

…

…

…

Bullshit" She deadpanned after a moment of silence.

"WHAT!?" I said, frustrated at how the girl seemed to call everything I knew for a fact as true for my entire life, bullshit. It was incredibly insulting and rude.

"Oh, wait, was that sarcasm? Sorry, because if it was, you suck at it."

"NO! IT WAS NOT SARCASM!"

"Oh shit! You were serious?"

"YES!"

"Then I go back to my first statement."

"Which was…?"

"Bullshit"

"ARGH!" I threw up my hands in frustration.

 _Why won't she believe anything I say, this is my home, my life, I know what I'm talking about for spirits sake!_

I took a moment and sighed before saying, "why don't you believe me?"

"Because no one lives in the south pole." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"Yeah, nobody lives in Antarctica. Hell no one even lives near Antarctica, except maybe a research station or two."

"What? No, that's, I don't know what you're talking about. Sure not as many people live in the South Pole as the North Pole, but the southern water tribe is still here." I said, trying to wrap my head around the things that she was saying, and it seemed like she was trying to do the exact same thing.

"Nobody lives in the North Pole either! What the Hell are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about the Northern and Southern Water tribes, the Southern one lives around the south pole, while the Northern Water tribe has it's cities around the North Pole."

She was about to give a response, but then something clicked inside her head, something that made sense, but something she was too scared to believe.

"Do you have a map of the world?" Sarah asked nervously, obviously worried about what she might find, and scared that she might be right.

"Um…no"

"I do." A new voice said, entering into the conversation, it was an old and well-worn voice that I knew well. It was the voice of my mentor, Katara

* * *

 _A/n: Iv2  
_

 _This story has been in the making for a while now, and just recently I decided to allow it onto the interent._

 _'Cause I'm a masochist like that._

 _In any case, I should probably inform you of a few warnings regarding this story._

 _First, the rating._

 _It's rated M for several reasons._

 _One: Cursing. There is a whole lot of that shit in this bitch. Not universally used, mind you._

 _What that means is that not everyone curses equally. In Mass Effect terms, some people will be like Jack, and others will be like Samara._

 _Second: Dark themes. It's not going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time._

 _It will be sunshine and rainbows **sometimes**_ _though, but that's because you need proper balance to keep everything fresh._

 _If everything's always happy all the time, then it gets dull and meaningless._

 _If everything's dark and depressing all the time, then the same thing happens_

 _By having proper balance both the good times and the bad times stand out more._

 _That being said...I am something of a sadistic bastard. Keep that in mind._

 _Third: Everyone's favorite, putting things where they don't belong._

 _..._

 _..._

 _That...that doesn't mean sex by the way._

 _Will there be sex?_

 _Maybe._

 _I don't really know if I feel like writing those, what are they called?_

 _Lemons?_

 _The fuck are they called Lemons?_

 _The fuck does a yellow piece of citrus have to do with coitus?_

 _I'll probably just say, "And then there was sex" and move on, but that might change. Don't know yet._

 _Will the actual act of sex occur?_

 _Yeah_

 _Will I write about it in vivid detail?_

 _Probably not._

 _But that's besides the point._

 _When I said putting things in places they don't belong, I didn't mean sex._

 _Hate to tell you this, but a penis **belongs** in a vagina. Some might argue an anus too, but that's besides the point._

 _You know what doesn't belong in a vajay-jay?_

 _A morning star._

 _or a cattle prod._

 _And if all goes according to plan, then that happens...maybe._

 _So those are mostly all the reasons why it's rated M_

 _On another note, OC's will have major impact in this story._

 _I've read stories were the OC basically just tags along adding certain bits of commentary here and there._

 _I always hate in when that happens._

 _I kind of feel like it's...well it's a lot of things, including, a lack of creativity as well as a lack of good writing._

 _Adding one person can change the whole direction things go. That new person could convince them to go right instead of left, thereby changing everything, and so on and so forth._

 _I'm not saying it'll be nothing but OC's or anything, but they will be making significant changes. Both now, and in the past._

 _In summary: Shit be different, Shit be cray, Shit be dark_

 _Oh, and finally, and most importantly, this story is AU_

 _That being said, in this case it doesn't exactly translate to Alternate Universe._

 _Here it's more like..._

 _Altered_ _Universe._

 _Basically this was cannon ATLA until the Kyoshi Incedent._

 _Basically what happened was that an external third party from a rather familiar place came and made some changed._

 _Accidentally, of course, they weren't_ _really trying to do anything in particular to this world, but it basically cause a butterfly effect._

 _Except, instead of a butterfly..._

 _...Godzilla._

 _So yeah, keep that in mind._

 _Or...you know...don't._


	2. Scene 2: Reunion and Rebellion

**Sarah's pov**

I turned to look at old woman in a blue set of robes walk into the room. She had a weird thing with her hair where two strands came from the front before looping back to the back of her hair, which was in a braid going down her back.

"Uh, sifu Katara, what are you doing up?! And here?!" Korra said, clearly surprised, and maybe even slightly embarrassed, and very flustered. A slight blush seemed to cross her face.

 _So that's her name, Katara. Huh, weird name._

"How long have you been standing there?" She asked, this time sheepishly, obviously she had gotten over her immediate shock.

"I was likely awoken by your rather loud conversation with this young woman standing here. And I have been standing here long enough to know that you seem to be well on your way to becoming friends." Katara calmly answered.

"Now then, why don't you introduce me to this young woman who you seem to be getting along with so well?"

"Oh! Right, well, um." Korra began, perking up somewhat.

"Sifu Katara, this is Sarah." She continued, gesturing at me, and then she looked nervous again. "She's the girl I, uh…" She started to say, but she was clearly uncomfortable going there.

So I intervened.

"I'm the girl she decided to light up." I interjected.

"Yeah, what she said." Korra agreed

At this Katara raised a brow, clearly confused as to how someone who was burned from head to toe was completely fine, up and walking around without a scratch on her so soon after the incident.

"How is she…?" Katara began to say

"Magic" I replied simply

"Magic?" She questioned.

This time it was Korra's turn to come to my rescue

"Yeah, Sarah already explained that where she's from they call bending magic." Korra said, answering Katara's unsaid question

"But bending isn't magic, it's an ancient traditional…" Katara began to explain.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We already went through that song and dance, we decided that you guys can call it bending all you want, and I'll stick with the shit I know, magic" I interrupted again.

"I see." Katara replied in a way that reveled that this actually _did_ explain a lot.

"So then, can I see that map? It's really important, I need to figure out where I am. Please?"

"Sure child" And with that Katara bent the water from Korra's hands and used it to create a textured globe of ice that portrayed the planet. "Here you go."

"Oh cool. So you're a water mage too, huh. Well thanks." I said, noting the odds of finding two water mages in the same place so soon. Then again, it probably wasn't a coincidence so I pushed that matter aside.

I picked up the globe and studied it, searching for any familiar sign, landmasses, anything.

"Come on America, where are you?" I murmured while I searched.

Unfortunately I didn't see anything even remotely familiar. No America, no Europe, no Africa, and no Asia.

With a sigh of resignation I had to finally admit the truth.

"Well I guess I'm not in Kansas anymore."

"What does that mean? Are you from Kansas?" Korra asked, her adorably ignorant blue eyes staring right at me.

I sighed again and said, "No, no I'm not, I'm from Colorado, which is also in America so you're not _totally_ wrong."

"Oh, okay, where are those? I've never heard of them."

I was about to explain my depressing discovery to Korra, but then something surprising happened.

"You're not from this world are you Sarah?" Katara asked.

Korra and I were both stunned by this, although for different reasons.

"How the hell did you figure it out so fast?" I finally asked

Katara just chuckled lightly and said, "A long time ago, a man came to this world, he wasn't from this world or the spirit world, he was from a completely different universe. He came here looking for something that belonged in his world and found its way lost here, he retrieved it and went home, but not before making friends, and fighting a creature of ice that had also come for the relic he sought."

To me this story sounded very similar to me, but I wasn't quite sure if I was right about what she was talking about so I let her continue.

"The Kyoshi Incident right?" Korra asked her mentor, making sure they were on the same page.

"Yes Korra" Katara answered before continuing, "That man looked an awful lot like you."

At this revelation both me and Korra widened out eyes quite a bit, and by this point I was all but sure I was right.

"He had the same skin color, same hair, same eyes, same accent, called bending magic, and most importantly of all, he said he was from a place called America in his world. I believe you two are from the same place, the same world."

When she said that I knew I was right, but I had to be sure, so I asked her one more question.

"What was his name?" I asked shakily

"We called him the Iron Dragon, but he introduced himself as Augustine." Katara answered

"Dad" I whispered loud enough for them to hear me.

Korra's jaw hit the floor, she was absolutely shocked, and Katara was right there with her, jaw also on the floor. She had just thought we were from the same place, she never imagined that I was his daughter.

"Augustine the Iron Dragon is your father?" Katara asked, unable to believe how much a coincidence it was that that stranger was the father of this new stranger.

"Did he walk around in demonic looking suit of armor, wielding a giant hammer, and carrying a small, powerful crossbow-like rod thingy that blew holes in shit?"

"Um...yes, yes that does sound like him." Katara replied after thinking about it for a little bit.

"Then yup, that's definitely dad."

Meanwhile Korra was still trying to pick her jaw up from the floor, unsuccessfully I might add.

"So why are you here? Or should I say how? It doesn't appear that you knew that you came here, let alone meant to." Katara asked.

"Oh, right. See what happened was that me and Mary were…" I stopped and my eyes went wide as dinner plates.

" **OH SHIT!** " I exclaimed, " **I FORGOT ABOUT MARY!** "

"Who's Mary?" Korra asked after finally managing to put her mouth back together.

"She's my sister! If I'm here then she has to be here too! Fucking shit man! I have to find her!" I said almost hysterical.

 _Oh shit shit shit! This Is Bad! I need to find Mary before something bad happens!_

"Don't worry Sarah, I'm sure we'll find her before something happens to her." Korra said, trying to reassure me.

"No, you don't understand. I'm worried about whoever finds _her_!"

Korra tilted her head slightly to convey her mild confusion at my statement.

"Oh man, that's gonna be a lot of blood." I murmured as I brought my hand to my face before sliding it down to my mouth.

"Oh, well what does she look like?"

"She looks like, well, me, but all surly and princess like. Also wearing a dress"

Suddenly a man in white armor ran into the room and looked to Katara before saying, "Master Katara!"

"Yes Howl" Katara answered, awaiting him to tell her whatever he was there for,

"Master Katara, there's been an incident, while the sentries were on patrol they found something, something _disturbing_." He said

 _That's probably thanks to Mary_

"I see, take me to whatever they found." Katara said, about to leave with the guard before I interrupted

"Wait, let me come too, it could be Mary!" I asked, urging her to let me come too.

"Very well, Korra, why don't you come along with us?" Katara asked, allowing me to come, and roping Korra to come along as well.

"Uh, yes sifu Katara." Korra replied, somewhat confused and surprised that Katara would let her come outside with them.

* * *

When they got the area we beheld a grizzly scene.

An area a bit bigger than a basketball court was just covered with blood stained snow, strewn body parts, and internal organs being less than internal.

Whatever was killed here, they were big, and there were a lot of them.

Their thick white fur was stained crimson with blood. They looked kind of like a big white dogs, but other body parts looked more like bear parts, it was confusing.

Korra, as well as some of the guards that came with us, went slightly ill after seeing all the intestines, stomachs, lungs, and eyeballs scattered around. Brain matter dotted the landscape as some of the creatures had their head blown apart, others had been cut to ribbons

Everything and been either cut up with an exceptionally sharp instrument, or they were blown apart with some type of projectile hitting them at high speeds.

For most of them, they had no idea what had caused this, I, on the other hand, was intimately familiar with the scene before me.

"Oh spirits, what could do this!" Korra said, looking like she was going to blow chunks.

"I mean these were polar bear dogs, they are the toughest, meanest predators in the South Pole. Even I would be in trouble if a pack of them this big attacked me!" She continued.

"Do you guys have guns?" I asked, trying to cover all of my bases.

"What's a gun?" Korra asked, adorably ignorant of a device that could kill her before she could even blink. She looks just fucking adorable as shit when she is clueless.

"Well, I guess we found Mary." I reasoned out. If Korra didn't know what guns were, then they probably couldn't have used a special 25 mm revolver, now could they. Then again, not many can.

"Wait, your sister did this!" Korra asked, unable to believe that my sister massacred a horde of monsters.

"Yeah I was worried something like this would happen if we didn't find her soon enough."

"Fortunately she left a trail of meat and blood to follow, so we found her. Yay." I said sardonically, trying to lighten the mood.

* * *

 **Korra pov**

We followed the trail of blood and footprints through the snow, and as we got closer and closer to its source I felt more and more anxious.

 _What kind of person would Mary have to be to do something like this? Is she some kind of monster-woman? Will she fight us? I'm starting to feel like it's a really good thing that we brought Sarah with us to find her sister, she doesn't look the slightest bit worried._

Soon we reached a cave in the ice were the blood led, this was where Mary was. As we were about to step into the mouth of the cave, a figure walked, or strutted really, out of the darkness of the cave.

It was Sarah.

Which was really confusing because Sarah was right next to me cheerfully screaming, "MARY!"

It was then that I took note of the differences, which were mostly clothing based.

While Sarah was wearing a blue parka over my clothes, Mary was wearing a mostly silver outfit that was composed of high collar silver jacket over a silver dress with a silver corset and a large silver skirt that stopped at her shins, and a pair of knee length silver boots. It had an intricate set of golden designs and a golden trim, the designs flowed around her body, extenuating her curves.

Despite the intricate design and very beautiful design of the dress, it was clear that it was also made for combat, or at least as a type of ceremonial armor. On her shoulders were plates of armor that wrapped around it, but left sufficient room for a wide range of movement. There was a chest plate covering her bust that blended with the rest of the dress.

The boots were armor plated, as was the collar of the dress. The entire rest of the dress looked like it was made of tiny metal scales interlocked to provide the same range of movement as if it was cloth, but also being able to protect the wearer.

All of that beauty was slightly marred by the fact that it was covered in blood, and the skin of a polar bear dog was wrapped around her shoulders.

Despite that, Mary looked cold. Not physically, but the look she was giving us was one of cold, calculated precision, she was studying us, analyzing our weakness, our strengths, our moods. Her face showed no other emotion, other than possibly mild discomfort. The cold look in her eyes, combined her being covered in blood, made me want to run back to the compound, wrap myself in blankets and hide from her fearsome gaze.

This was a stark contrast with her sister who was completely beside herself with joy.

In addition, unlike her sister, who's thick, curly hair was pulled into a messy wolf tail, Mary's hair was straight and flowed down her back and over her shoulders. In addition she was wearing some simple make up. How it managed to stay on given the conditions I don't know.

Sarah ran up to her sister and tackled her into the ground in a hug, which Mary didn't seem very pleased by.

"Oh, I'm so glad I found you! I have _so_ much to tell you!" Sarah exclaimed while getting off her sister and helping her up.

Mary just gave her a frown in response.

"First off, I know it's going to be hard to believe, but we're in a different world!"

"I am aware of that." Mary replied

Even her voice was cold, unlike Sarah, who spoke rather roughly and informally with a slight accent and conveyed emotion with every word, Mary spoke calmly, simply, and formally with regal, high class accent.

"Wait, what? How do you know! You've been stuck in a fucking cave!"

"Well it was somewhat obvious that we had been transported somewhere else due to the accident we caused, and that we were someplace very different considering one second we are in father's laboratory in Colorado, and the next I'm in a frozen wasteland."

"Yeah, but we could have just been teleported to, like, Alaska, or something."

"True, but then they don't have these in Alaska now do they?" Mary asked as she held up a bloody polar bear dog head in her left hand.

"That's a good point."

"In addition spells don't appear to work here, likely due to the lack of the necessary magical infrastructure."

"Really? Huh, I haven't tried any."

"Not surprising. So, what have you been up to, dear sister?"

"Oh, right Korra!"

"Uh" I said, unsure as to what she wanted me to do.

"Get over here!" Sarah gestured right next to her

"Okay" I said submissively, walking over, right next Sarah and right in front of Mary, who still made me feel uncomfortable.

"Mary, this is Korra, she's my first friend here, and she's the avatar, which means a whole lot of magical bullshit which is only _kind of_ important."

Mary just raised an eyebrow in response.

"She burned me alive and almost killed me, for NO reason." Sarah said, glaring at me, making me feel very uncomfortable.

"I said I'm sorry!" I cried out apologetically

"How on earth did she accomplish that?" Mary asked, staring at me with an investigative eye, trying to determine everything she could about me just on looks.

"She got lucky, or unlucky depending on how you see it."

"Elaborate." Mary stated simply with her eye brow still raised inquisitively.

"Well I kind of popped into reality behind her while she was in a sparring match using fire magic, which startled her. So for me the first thing I felt in this world was being on fire. It was literally like one second I'm in dad's lab with you, the next an inter-dimensional time vortex thingy, and the second after that I'm on fire." Sarah explained.

"Ah, I see." Mary said before turning to me.

"You were, in fact, lucky."

"Thanks?" I said uncomfortably, she still creeped me out.

"I never said the luck was good."

"What?" I said, now very concerned as to what she meant.

"The luck for you, was in fact, very bad."

"…How?" I asked cautiously

"Simple." she said before placing her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Sarah is going to make you regret that impetuous course of action, and I will be there to watch."

"You will?" I said nervously

"Oh come on Mary, don't scare her off, she's my first friend here." Sarah pleaded

"I was simply speaking the truth, she needs to be warned of the dangers associated with being your friend." Mary replied

"What?! What dangers?! I'm not dangerous!" Sarah responded indignantly

Mary just raised an eye brow and gave her sister a look that said, _really? That sounds like bullshit._

"Good point." Sarah sheepishly admitted. But then she perked up again

"Oh! You'll never guess what I learned about this place though!" She continued

"Father was here before wasn't he?" Mary answered

"What! How in the _fuck_ could you possibly know that?! How?! You've been stuck in a fucking goddamn cave for days!" Sarah cried, frustrated that her sister seems to be able to counter her every move.

"Father mentioned that one time during the war he went to a world with something called the avatar." Mary simply replied, unfazed by Sarah's outburst, before continuing her explanation.

"And just now you mentioned that Korra here." She said pointing to me, "Is the avatar. Taking into consideration how excited you were at what you wanted to say I just deduced the truth." She finished.

"I hate you." Sarah said, pouting at her loss against her sister's mind.

We started to head back to the compound, the whole way there Sarah and Mary where talking to each other, Sarah mostly just filling her sister in on what she missed, and Mary giving Sarah her thoughts on those matters. I kind of stopped paying attention to some of it, and focused more on looking at the two of them go back and forth.

But there was something I was itching to ask them, so while we were walking back I asked Sarah.

"Sarah?" I said, getting her attention

"Hm?" Sarah hummed in acknowledgement, turning to face me.

"The Iron Dragon was your father right?"

"Yeah, apparently."

"What was he like?"

"What do you mean 'was'?" She asked confused

"Oh, well, it's just that it's been nearly 70 years since the Kyoshi Incident, and he was older than Katara, so I just assumed he died." I stammered, realizing I kind messed up my question already.

"70 years? That's how long it's been for you guys? Huh. _Weird_ " She mused, as if she discovered some interesting phenomenon, or like one she had been told about was just proven true.

"Yeah, why is that weird?" I asked, genuinely confused as to how this was a confusing, it was time, as far as I knew time was kind of constant.

"Well it's weird because while it's been nearly 70 years since dad came here for you, for us it's only been a little under 30 years." She answered

 _Everything I know is wrong._ I thought, shock plastered all over my face as I realized that that even something as basic as time was different between our worlds. I think I could feel the cold snow on my jaw from it hitting the ground.

"Sarah, father _did_ tell us that different universes don't always have time move at the same rate relative to each other, and that traveling between worlds can distort one's sense of time even further." Mary said, explaining things to us.

Then Sarah suddenly realized something.

"Wait, Korra, if you thought dad was like 90 years old or something then how old did you think we were? Because it would be really weird for two 22 year olds to have a 90 year old dad." Sarah asked

"Well I didn't really think about that too much, that was gonna be one of my other questions!" I responded defensively, flustered by how Sarah pointed out the glaring flaw in my logic.

"It's not like I really considered time travel to be the answer in any of this!" I was able to counter.

"Fair enough." Sarah said with a shrug.

"Anyways, back to my original question, what was, is, your father like? I've heard a few stories about the Iron Dragon from Zuko and Katara, but even to them he was pretty mysterious. Since you're his daughters you probably know a lot about him right?" I asked, genuinely curious about their father, Katara and Zuko had told many stories involving many different people, but the Iron dragon was always the most mysterious, a stranger from a strange land who disappeared just as fast as he appeared but not before leaving a permanent mark on the world.

"Batshit crazy motherfucker." Sarah deadpanned at me with a completely serious face, surprising me with her unexpected response.

"He's a powerful, rich, reclusive, and eccentric warmonger, inventor, father, king, husband, and, arguably, a god" Mary responded, equally serious, and equally confusing.

"Yeah, what I said." Sarah agreed.

"Uh…what?" I asked, very confused as to what they meant by everything, especially Mary's comment about him being a god.

"Not a god." Sarah said flatly to Mary.

When Mary gave Sarah gave her a questioning look she said, "I'm saying it for him since he's not here to defend himself."

"So he's not a god? Then why did Mary say he was, and what about the other things you said?" I asked, still very much confused, a feeling I was starting to get a lot.

"He's been worshipped as a god by some crazy ass cultists, and ever since we ran into them Mary, among others, hasn't let go of the fact that some people worshipped him as a god, and every time someone brings it up he'll just say all annoyed like, 'not a god'" Sarah explained "It's kind of a running joke."

"One with a grain of truth." Mary stated softly, but I ignored it.

I was feeling something unfamiliar to me, it was a warm feeling, it filed me with a quiet content happiness, I was having fun not doing anything in particular, not in any particular accomplishment. I was just enjoying the moment with these two sisters, one of whom called me her friend, and the other, well she creeped me out like my cousins, but Sarah balanced her out, and with both of them here she wasn't too bad.

 _Is this what it's like to have friends?_

 _Is that what it's like to have a sister? Is that what family is supposed to be like?_

 _It looks nice._

 _It feels nice to not be alone._

"Why don't you tell us about yourself? Tell us about your life as the avatar, and when we get back to the snow fort you can introduce us to your other friends!" She said excitedly as she tried to pull me into the conversation.

Little did she know how sensitive the subject she touched was.

When she asked that my face fell.

"Actually I don't really have any other friends, I have Naga, she's my best friend, but she's a polar bear dog, so that kind of doesn't count." I said sadly.

"What? How can you not have had any other friends? You're like, 18 right? You've had to have had at least some other friends right?" she asked, concern blanketing her face.

"No, I wasn't allowed to meet anyone my age at the compound, it was for my own safety, and theirs."

"What do you mean?"

"When the last avatar, Aang, died, he told the White Lotus to protect the next avatar, and that's me. So when they found out I was the avatar as a child, they took me from my home and raised my in the compound, teaching me everything I would need to be a great avatar and keeping me safe. It also kept me from hurting anyone else while I was learning my bending." I said solemnly

"That's fucked up, you were kidnapped from your parents, before thrown in a prison of ice and forced to be what they wanted you to be." Sarah said sadly.

"I also have to admit that I find this to be somewhat morally questionable." Mary admitted

"What?! No! They didn't kidnap me, my parents let me go! It was for my own good!" I said emphatically, not wanting them to get the wrong idea.

"So instead of getting kidnapped you were given up by your parents?" Sarah accused, looking me straight in the eyes with a strange look in them. It was a determined and angry kind of look, but that's not all there was in it. There was a powerful, passionate, burning fire in her eyes. One so intense I had to tear my eyes from her gaze.

"That might be even worse." She added darkly as she glanced away from me.

"No! It was for my own good! They needed me to be the best avatar I could be, and the best way to do that was by giving me to the white lotus."

"How noble of them." Sarah said, a dark look covering her face, her tone acidic.

"It was what was best for all of us! I needed to be the best I could be, and that meant learning all the elements!"

"Is that all you learned?" She asked, her dark and serious demeanor was actually scaring me a little.

"Well, mostly yeah." Somewhat taken aback by her tone.

"Sounds less like they were trying to help you to become the best avatar you could, and more like they were trying to turn you into a weapon. They're weapon." She accused, "And your parents just went along with that."

"What?! No! I'm not being turned into anyone's weapon, they're just concerned about me, they want me to be the best I can, protect me from all the bad and evil in the world so I don't get corrupted, or become too weak to do what's best for the world. If I have too many earthly connections it could prevent me from doing what's needed." I said trying to defend everything I knew.

"And how can you do what's best for the world if you don't even know what it looks like?" Sarah accused, and that was the argument that bypassed all of my arguments.

It hit me right in the heart of all my beliefs by riding on all of my doubts. But she didn't stop there.

"Not only that, but it sounds like you're not even a person to them, you're less than a prisoner, you're a thing, a weapon, you have no free will, you're afforded just what _they_ think you need. You do what _they_ think is best." She stated, and with each word she destroyed more and more of the world I thought I knew, because I knew she was right.

"No! That's, that's not true." I said defiantly, still in denial.

"Well then," She started, getting a strange look on her face, "Tell me, have the White Lotus ever done something, kept you from doing something that would help you become a better avatar because it would keep you 'safe'?" She asked.

I was about to vehemently deny that they had done anything like that, when I remembered the incident with Tenzin earlier.

"…while you were asleep master Tenzin came by. He's the last air bending master in the world." I began softly. My defiance had been destroyed after I realized that everything that Sarah had said had been right. I was just a prisoner, no, not even that, I was the avatar, a weapon for sustaining the balance.

"He's the only one who can teach me air bending, which is the last element I need to learn."

I sighed, resigning to myself to the truth as I finished the tale.

"Instead of teaching me, he said that I would have to wait because he had to stay in Republic City, and that I couldn't come with because it was too…dangerous." I admitted, but there was one final part, the nail in the coffin.

"Later I tried to sneak off to Republic City with just me and Naga, but Katara stopped me. She told me that she could understand what I was thinking, but I wasn't ready for the real world, I was too innocent, too naive, and too unprepared. She actually used the incident with you to prove her point Sarah. Anyway I saw the concern in her eyes, and I just couldn't leave." I said, finally coming to terms with the truth.

"I couldn't leave the one person who actually cared about me." I said softly, almost a whisper as I directed my eyes to the ground.

Sarah looked sad, like she regretted that she was right, before it suddenly changed. She got a dangerous look in her eyes, and a devilish, toothy, confident grin, that if I didn't know better I might describe as evil.

"Well then I guess there's only one thing we can do." Sarah said, her grinning face making me nervous.

"And what's that?" I said worried about what the response I would get would be.

"We're going to break you out of here." She said, putting her hand on my shoulder

"And then we're going to head to Republic City." She finished, her evil grin growing even wider, into that of a madman, before chuckling like one too.

"Really Sarah? We've only been here for three days and you're already inciting rebellion?" Mary said questioningly.

"Well hey, we need to go there too Mary, after all, if we came here, then some of the Fluid of Space probably came here too considering that we can still use control magic, and that would be our path home. Besides, fuck the White Lotus for trying to contain Korra like she's some type of weapon." Sarah explained

"The Fluid of Space?" I questioned

"It's the relic that sent us here when we had our fight." Sarah said pointing to her and Mary

"And going to Republic City is a good place to start. I see your point." Mary said, finishing her sister's thought.

"Wait, no guys, I can't leave Katara, she just wants to protect me, she doesn't want me to get hurt, she worried about me." I said, trying to get them to back down from this plan.

"Hey, if you really love something, then you let it go, otherwise you're just controlling it. Besides, you're eighteen, you're old enough to make your own decisions." Sarah asserted.

"Well I do need to learn air bending, which is the element of freedom, I would probably need to be free to learn it then wouldn't I." I said, coming around to the idea of escaping to the city again.

* * *

 _A/n: Edit:9/23/15: Did some minor revisions and alterations to this and other chapters to clean them up a bit. I felt that they were a bit messy, and some things weren't explained well, some conversations felt rigid and not very natural, and some things were revealed in what I felt was an awkward way. So on this day I have made various changes to various chapters._

 _On another note, in case you haven't figured it out yet Sarah and Mary are from an earth much like ours, but slightly different._

 _It's kind of like if they were from the Harry Potter world._

 _They aren't, and it's not based off of Harry Potter, but it does have similarities in that there's the human world, that we all know and love, and then there's the magical world._

 _The biggest caveat in that is that humans may or may not be the biggest players in the magical world._

 _You'll find out more later, but just know that many of the pop culture references that you know, the sisters know._


	3. Scene 3: Reflections on the Big Blue Sea

**Sarah pov**

The next morning Mary and I enacted the plan, though when I say morning I really mean 3:00 am. Korra was still asleep, as was most of the base, when we struck. There were several things we needed to get before we left. First, my chronicler. I had it on me when Korra roasted me, but considering this was a special model made to take a lot of punishment I was confident it was fine. Second, we needed money. So, in true video game logic form we looted the bodies of the various White Lotus guards we incapacitated in preparation for our escape. Third, we needed supplies. That we could buy in town with the money we took, so we didn't really have to worry about it in the base. That being said, we wouldn't have much time to buy them before the White Lotus got wise to what we were doing.

Frankly it was startlingly easy to raid the base. Despite being fortress designed to keep the avatar safe, it was surprisingly easy to go through and take what we needed. They barley had any real chance. I almost felt bad for them.

Almost.

Considering what they had done to Korra I felt that they got what they had deserved.

Anyway, by the time 5:00 rolled around there was a big enough hole in their defenses to allow us to get Korra the hell out of there. She was groggy, and complaining about how she hated mornings, but we were able to get her to get her clothes together and get out. Unfortunately Korra wouldn't leave without her ...dog...bear...thing.

What the fuck is that thing anyway?

Anyway we had to bring that lumbering beast along with us when we left. It made me glad the Mary and I had made the hole in their security so large. As far as Korra was concerned, though, we just walked out of there, never even seeing a single sentry. She didn't have to know we knocked out, like, half their security and robbed them. After we left we quickly made our way to the town and bought enough food for a couple days. Hopefully it would be enough to get to the city.

When we got to the docks we looked for a ship that was headed to republic city now. Korra was planning on sneaking on board, but being caught as stowaways was never a good idea, so instead we let Mary bribe the captain of one of the ships to let us hitch a ride. I let Mary do it because she's the one with the silver tongue. She can talk her way into or out of almost anything. That is, unless it was mom and dad. Once we were on-board there was nothing else to do but sit, wait, and talk.

And talk we did, we just sat in the cargo bay, surrounded by wooden and metal crates emitting various smells. The smell of damp wood was the most prevalent one in the boat, and it was combined with the slow but steady rocking of the hull.

"So Mary?" Korra asked

"Yes?" She responded

"I've been meaning to ask you two this for a while, but, Sarah why did you shrug off me burning you alive so easily?" She asked, still concerned about it.

Then again, it makes a lot of sense. Most people _would_ probably be pretty miffed about being burned alive...that is if they even survived.

Mary and I just looked at each other in surprised understanding and said "oh" in unison.

We then directed our gaze back towards Korra.

"Well, as I said before, I've gone through worse." I began

"Yeah, I know, but I don't understand _how_ you've you've gone through worse when I almost _killed_ you?!" She responded emphatically

"Not only that, but, even if by some miracle you _have_ gone through worse, the fact is, _I still almost killed you_!" She added

I sighed, realizing that this would be very difficult to explain, especially without giving too much away with our answers. I glanced at Mary and silently gave her the initiative to respond. I wasn't the best person to explain things after all, and she would more easily be able to explain it in a way that placated her, told the truth, and didn't reveal too much of ourselves, all at the same time.

"You see, Korra, my sister is somewhat special." Mary began to explain

 _OH, this should be good_. I thought critically. She was probably going to blame this all on me or something. I was suddenly starting to regret my decision.

"Sarah is a rare breed, someone who only comes around every so often on our world. Someone who's power and skill is unmatched." She continued, regaling Korra with the beginnings of wonderous tale.

"Is...is she like...your avatar or something?" Korra asked tentatively, enthralled by Mary's explanation.

"Of course not, she's just a completely insane berserker." Mary scoffed, as if Korra had just said the stupidest suggestion ever.

Korra seemed stunned by that response as she visibly recoiled in the face of it. "...Wh-What?"

"Sarah here," Mary began again, gesturing to me, "is severely lacking in the sanity department. More to the point, she has the mentality, and was trained by a friend of the family, to be berserker." She continued.

"A what?" Korra asked again, confused.

"A berserker. Berserkers are a term used to describe people with an innate love of combat and violence unheard of by anyone else. They revel in giving and receiving pain. As such they don't really take being injured as a personal offense. Frankly Sarah is probably more impressed that you were able to burn her alive than anything else." Mary explained.

"Well, it wasn't _that_ impressive. I mean, she kind of ambushed me out of the space time vortex thingy. I _am,_ however, interested in what the _avatar_ can do in a _real_ fight." I responded enthusiastically, unable to hide my anticipation for our upcoming fight. I really wanted to see what she was made of.

"So wait, are there a lot of people like Sarah? You know, people okay with getting set on fire?" Korra asked worriedly, which wasn't very surprising considering the idea of having to deal with a lot of people like me and Erika. "Are...you like this?" Korra added tentatively

"Oh, no no no. I am most certainly _not_ a berserker by any means." She began before being interrupted by Korra again

"But what about what you did to those polar bear-dogs?" She pointed.

"I took no pleasure in that, I simply did what I had to to survive. Sarah, on the other hand, would have probably thoroughly enjoyed fighting for her life." She explained

"I don't understand how you _don't_ find it fun. I mean that looked like one wicked intense fight, and I am so sad I missed it." I admitted.

"Knowing you you would purposely draw out the fight to have as much fun as you could for as long as possible, regardless of whether you had anything better to do." May critiqued

"Well, duh. What's the point of fighting if you don't have fun with it?" I asked back, only half joking.

"Survival." Mary pointed out simply

"Yeah...but that's boring." I whined

 **SMACK!**

Mary responded to that by pistol whipping me in the back of the head with her revolver which she summoned from her metal dress.

"OW!" I exclaimed, more in surprise than pain. In truth it didn't really hurt that much, and besides, it was just how she showed her sisterly love.

"Dammit Mary! Fuck!" I cursed. Just cause I knew why she did it doesn't mean I couldn't complain.

"That's what you get for being an idiot." She responded with her trademark cold aloof smugness. I wouldn't have her any other way.

Bitch.

Korra, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh at our familial antics.

But yeah, the days kind of went on like this, us just talking to each other about ourselves and our worlds.

Korra was still a little shaky on the concept of magic, among other things, especially science.

We kind of gave up trying to explain the internet to her and just called it magic.

* * *

"But I still don't understand what email is?" Korra asked, totally lost

"And what are videos, and how do you share music?"

"And how do you google?"

Mary was actually laughing at this, probably thinking _god, she is so adorably stupid._

I mean she was covering her mouth with the back of her hand, attempting to suppress it so it was more of a chuckle than anything, cause you know, laughing is _so_ unladylike. But for Mary that was practically like cackling.

"You know what, fuck it! It's magic okay?! It's Motherfucking magic!" I cried, throwing my hands up in frustration.

Actually now that I think about it _that_ was probably what Mary was laughing at, me in pain.

 _Fucking Mary_ I thought to myself

* * *

 **Korra pov**

So the twins failed to really explain this "Internet" thing to me, but that night I saw Mary just sitting on the deck of the ship at night, staring into the star filled sky. She was playing with a ring on her finger with a solemn look on her face.

Normally she kind of creeped me out a little bit, what with her cold and perfectly set face, her perfect posture and expression, the way that everything she did screamed that she was from the upper class and that you were beneath her. It was very off putting, and made her hard to approach.

But right now, in this moment, she just seemed like a girl far away from home, with little hope of being able to return.

 _At least they have each other, so they're not truly alone._ I thought to myself.

On the one hand I thought I should leave her alone, give her some time to herself, but on the other hand I had never seen her in such vulnerable state, well _relatively_ vulnerable, it's not like she was crying her eyes out or anything. She just wasn't wearing her royal mask of perfection and beauty for once.

After carefully considering my options I eventually decided to talk to her, so I walked up next to her, the sounds of my boots hitting the metal deck ringing out over the sound of waves pounding against the ship somehow escaping her notice.

As I walk to her I realize I have no idea how to start this conversation. As I get closer I notice the ring in her hands, and as I look at it I notice that it is a much more intricately designed ring than I thought. Instead of being a metal band with a diamond on top it's a ring of narrow knife shaped diamonds that are bound together with bands of silver, gold, and a dark grey, almost black, metal.

 _The Ring! That's what I can start with, I'll ask her about that!_ I think to myself, realizing the answer to my problems.

"Hey Mary. That's a beautiful ring you have there." I said nervously, trying to break the ice.

She's shaken from her thought by my question, suddenly realizing that I'm here. She looks down at the object in question, seeming to think about, as well as fondly, if somewhat sadly remembering something.

"Yes, it is." She says softly and solemnly as she continues to gaze at her ring.

She takes off the ring and levitates it with her bending in between the two of us, allowing me to get a better view of the ring.

As I inspect the ring I find that my earlier observations about the ring were correct, but at the same time, the ring is so much more complex than that. The bands of metal don't just wrap the crystal clear diamonds together, the silver bands are actually woven _through_ the diamond with some gold bands, creating a silver and gold rope that travels through the diamonds, weaving them together. There are thick dark grey bands of metal at either end of the ring covering the tips of the diamonds. Under the diamond are several bands of silver that provide a boundary between the wearer and the diamonds, but it still allows light to pass through all the diamonds when held up apart from the finger. The way all the diamonds reflect light together is beautiful, even in the darkness of the night. In between the diamonds is a layer of gold that fills the gaps between their arrow-like shapes.

All together it creates a beautiful silver, black, and gold ring of diamonds.

As I'm enthralled by the beauty of the ring Mary continues.

"It was my mother's wedding engagement ring." She says softly

 _Oh, so that's why she was looking so sad, she was remembering her mother._ I realize sadly.

 _She might never see her parents, her loved ones again._

"Right, you're worried about whether or not you'll ever see your friends and family again."

"Yes, Sarah's worried too, but she's also a lot more upbeat and spontaneous, so it's easier for her to forget how serious of a situation we're in right now, it's easier to forget that we may never see mother and father again, that we might never see Brynhildr, Erika, Elizabeth, and Gretchen again. I fear the day when the truth of our desperate situation truly reaches her, and I pray in never does." She says, recalling all the people she'll miss

"Is it really that bad? I mean your dad came here and got back just fine right?" I say, trying to cheer her up.

"Yes, it is. You see when my father came here, he came here on a mission of his own volition. He _planned_ to come here, he prepared what he would need, a way to come back, and what he would need if…complications arose. We are not so fortunate." She explained

"You guys never really explained how you got here." I say, genuinely curious.

"Well, frankly I'm not too sure what happened myself, but I'll do what I can." She paused, gathering her thoughts as she tried to recall the events that led up to their arrival in our world.

"I could give long flashback inducing re-accounting of what happened that would take potentially hours of auditory description to truly explain, but I think I'll take a page from Sarah's book and summarize." She began.

As she started to tell the tale she played with the ring with her bending, ripping it apart and having the diamonds orbit the metal rings.

"Sarah and I were in a fight, one that had escalated beyond words, as they usually do. At some point we got Alice involved."

"Alice is one of my father's closest assistant and technicians, she stays with us at our house and usually works in my father's laboratory." Mary explained before continuing the story.

"Well involved might be a stretch, you see she was working in the laboratory when we brought our fight to her, and at some point I believe we annoyed her to the point where we accidentally interfered with one of her experiments and triggered a relic that she was working on to activate. This relic is known to us as the Fluid of Space, well a piece, a droplet of it, at least. When we activated it we must have caused it to open a portal to this world and send us here. It is highly likely that it came here as well, the Fluid of Space tends to move with its user. If we can find it then we can use it to return home." Mary explained.

"Wait, how could this Fluid of Space do that?" I questioned, somewhat lost, again, at what she was saying.

"Well the answer is both simple and complex, and not very well understood, but all you really need to know is that the Fluid of Space is the nexus and the source of all space magic for our relative location in our dimension. And Space magic is magic that affects the very fabric of reality itself, and it, along with Time magic and Soul magic, are the most fundamental building blocks of magic, at least in our reality." Mary explained, answering enough of my question to satisfy me for now.

In reality what she had said had created more questions than answers for me, but I suspected that if I pressed her for more answers right now I would be flooded with a torrent of information I barely understood, not really understanding any of it, and in the end I would regret that I asked the question.

"So this Fluid of Space sent you here, and if you find it you can use it to go home?" I asked for clarification, I thought I had a fair idea of what was going on, but I wanted to be sure.

"Yes, but we have no leads as to where it may be, or what it may look like here, according to my father's account the Fluid of Space can change its appearance to become nearly anything. All we know is that whatever form it may take, that form will exude exceedingly large amounts of power, and possibly be very dangerous. Overall though, we won't really know until we've found it." Mary admitted, revealing how unlikely it was that they would actually get home.

 _They only have one chance to get home, and they have no idea how to find it or what it looks like, that sounds like a nearly impossible task. Mary probably feels like most of the work is on her shoulders, as Sarah seems more focused on helping me than finding a way home. That sounds like a tough burden, I don't know if I would be able to handle something like that. She shouldn't have to shoulder this burden alone, neither should Sarah, just like the two of them are helping reach my destiny of being the Avatar, I'll help them find a way home._

"You know what Mary." I start to say as I put my hand on her shoulder to show my support for her and I look her in the eye as I say, "I'm sorry that the two of you are stuck here, but I'm glad that I met you, I will always be grateful to you, so as the avatar I swear to help you two to get home, whatever it takes. You guys were willing to help me break out of the White Lotus compound to experience freedom and become the avatar I was meant to be, and became my first friends, this is the least I can do in return." I promised her.

She looked me back in the eyes and only said, "Thank you for that, though I don't know how much help it will really be, I appreciate that, even if I don't show it all the time.", somewhat stiffly, as if she was trying to figure how to actually show emotion and gratitude genuinely, like it wasn't something that came naturally to her.

I smiled back, feeling glad that I had helped her out, that I had made her feel better and I got a peek under the mask of coldness she usually shows.

The next day Mary acted like nothing had even happened, but she had already said as much so I wasn't too surprised when she did that, but it still made me sad that she had learned to suppress her emotions and feelings so totally that showing genuine gratitude was difficult.

* * *

At some point I eventually felt like asking them a question about their dad to pass the time.

"So if your dad was here before, did he ever talk about this place to you guys?" I asked

"Yeah actually, he would talk about a few of the worlds he had to visit during the war, this one was actually one of his top three favorite worlds." Sarah answered

"Really?"

"No." Mary countered flatly

"It's not?" Sarah asked, genuinely confused

"It's one of his top 5." She explained.

"Oh...then what was his favorite?" Sarah asked

Mary just gave her a blank look that said _really? you can't guess? you really don't know?_

After a second of thought Sarah finally answered.

"Oh...

 _...OOOHHH_...

...I get it. Yeah, he did like the shit he got from there. Learned a lot about enchanting and crafting from that realm too." Sarah said thoughtfully

"But anyways, you wanted to know what he said about this place, right?" she continued, looking at me.

"Yeah, it would be nice if you could answer a question for once without getting off track." I said, giving her a frown for ability to get so easily distracted.

"Hey, I get it from dad." Sarah defended, once again getting of track.

"Mother does it as well." Mary commented

"Yeah, but dad's like ten times worse."

"Sarah!" I shouted at her, trying to get her to focus.

"Oh. Right. Well, he actually had a lot of funny things to say about this world, especially the people he met." Sarah said, finally getting on topic.

"Like what?" I inquired.

"Well, he talked about the avatar." She started to say

"Really!?" I asked excitedly

"Yeah, he said the avatar was this annoying little naive pacifist vegan piece of shit bald ass motherfucking monk kid who was stupidly optimistic about everything, would never shut up, and really needed a punch in the face." Sarah said like she was reciting some kind of speech. "His words, not mine."

"Father also criticized how such a child was still alive during such a war as the one he faced, and why he was the avatar." Mary reminded Sarah

"Yeah, dad was not a very big fan of the avatar."

"Oh, I think that's the only time I've ever heard anyone criticize avatar Aang so badly." I said, surprised that someone who was supposed to be on Aang's side would be so critical of him.

"Yeah, he also talked about this water mage Inuit girl who was always on about the power of hope or friendship or something. Was it hope or friendship, I don't remember?" Sarah said, directing the last part to her sister.

"I believe it was hope, but he disliked the blind faith in both equally." Mary answered

"That…kind of sounds like Katara." I said, thinking about it, considering whether or not it was true.

"Wait, wasn't that the old lady with the hair loopies?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, she was my water bending teacher."

"Huh. Well dad also said he kind of liked the fire in her soul, as well as her borderline-militant-feminism."

"So he liked Katara?" I said hesitantly, saying it more like a question than anything else.

"Yeah, I think so, I mean she made him want to burn hope into the ground, but yeah, I think on the whole he liked her." Sarah said, tilting her head as she tried to remember.

"He tolerated her, said she was competent." Mary clarified

"Which, considering this is dad we're talking about, is high praise." Sarah added

"What about Zuko?" I asked, I was getting really into this, wondering what he said about all of the people in my predecessor's group.

"Who?" Sarah questioned

"He was the fire lord, he had a big old burn scar on one side of his face, powerful fire bender." I started listing, trying to reminder who I was talking about.

"Oh! Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows!" Sarah exclaimed, apparently realizing who I was talking about.

"What?" I questioned with a confused grimace, those were definitely _not_ the words I would use to describe Zuko, ever.

"Yeah, it was the tongue in cheek name that he gave that guy, 'cause he was all dark and broody all the time, despite being a fire mage."

"Why didn't he tell you any of their names?" I asked, wondering why the Iron Dragon told them about everyone, but didn't mention their names.

"Dads is absolute shit at names, he can remember people and faces easily, but when it comes to actually remembering the person's name, he's complete shit. So instead he just gives them a tongue in cheek title based on what they act like." Sarah explained

"You have no idea how often he'll call people "dude-person-thing" Mary added

"So he gives them nicknames?"

"Not really, they were too long and descriptive to be called nicknames. Actually, what where all the titles he told us?" She explained, and the last part she asked herself as she delved into her memories to recall the title.

Fortunately she didn't have to.

"Noisy Flying Monkey, Militant Hope Chick, Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows, The Boomerang Swordsman, The Destroyer of Hope, Crusher of Wills, and The Murder Princess, to name a few." Mary recited from memory.

"Umm…I think I got the first four, but who are the last three?" I asked

"Actually The Destroyer of Hope, Crusher of wills is one title." She clarified

"Oh, well then the last two then."

"Well the Destroyer of Hope, Crusher of Wills was one of his favorites, according to him she was this little blind girl who didn't take shit from anybody and was a stupid powerful earth mage." Sarah explained.

"That would be Toph, and now the title makes sense."

"Yeah, dad that she was fucking hilarious, especially when she would butt–heads with the Militant Hope Chick."

"Katara." I corrected

"Whatever, same difference." She dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Oh, and he also liked the last one, he said she was actually very smart and clever, oh he also said she was, like, the Boomerang Swordsman's girlfriend or something. I don't remember."

"He said they were a good match for each other." Mary corrected

"Suki." I said, giving my guess for who they were talking about. I couldn't imagine who else they would be talking about.

"If you say so."

"What did he say about Sokka?" I asked, Katara and Zuko would talk about her late brother fondly, but I wanted to hear another perspective on him.

"Who?" She asked, and then I remembered that she didn't actually know their real names.

I sighed, realizing that this would get very old very soon. "The Boomerang Swordsman."

"Oh, yeah that guy was dad's favorite."

"Really?" I said, suddenly very interested. I very rarely heard anyone say Sokka was the best, good yes, great even, but not better than anyone else.

"Yeah, dad said that the Boomerang Swordsman gave a kind of goofy front, but in the long run he was one of the only people he had met who wasn't an idiot."

The shock on my face was plain as day as my eyebrows shot up to my scalp, my eye wide open, my jaw on the floor.

 _I've never heard anyone say anything like that about Sokka, him being something of an idiot was one of his defining traits._

My reaction seemed to please the twins, Mary gave me a light smirk at my foolish behavior, and Sarah chuckled lightly at my shock.

"Oh yeah, dad said he was funny, smart, clever, creative, tenacious, and caring, traits he really admired. He said that The Boomerang Swordsman was material for being an engineer or military tactician. He also said that his girlfriend was also very strong, smart, clever, and equally caring." Sarah elaborated

"Passionate, not caring. He also liked her sass, even if she could be a bitch." Mary corrected Sarah's description of Suki being caring.

"Right, but yeah, he really liked the two of them, he said they made a great pair, they were definitely the two smartest people he met, and they were easily the most competent people he met here, well excluding the Destroyer of Hope, Crusher of Wills." Sarah continued

"Korra said her name was Toph."

"I like the Destroyer of Hope, Crusher of Wills better."

Meanwhile I had to leave to think about what they had said, I had never heard Sokka and Suki held in such high regard, I mean yeah Katara and Zuko would complement them all the time and stuff, but whenever they did it would be with a grain of salt, and a look of sadness in their eyes as they sadly considered what might have been, but what never was.

As I was walking away I could hear Sarah say, "Yeah, according to dad those two were perfect for each other, they complemented each other in every way."

Her voice was getting fainter and fainter as I left the hold onto the deck of the ship.

"Him with his boomerang and creative wit." She said, her voice barley even a whisper over the roaring winds from the sea, the sound of waves crashing together, and crashing against the boat.

As I finally walked onto the deck of the ship I wasn't able to hear her say,

"And her with her blue fire and cunning mind."

* * *

 _A/n: Duh Duh DUH!_

 _What does it mean?!_

 _Weeeeeellllll_

 _maybe nothing, is the answer._

 _In this story not everything everyone says is gospel._

 _What that basically means is is that not everything everyone says is a fact._

 _Doesn't mean they're lying_

 _Just means that they may be explaining it poorly, or be mistaken._

 _Sarah, for instance, tried to explain how magic worked on her world._

 _Was she right?_

 _Did she do a good job?_

 _Maybe._

 _Maybe she did a shit job._

 _That's for me to know, and you to find out._

 _In summary, what I'm saying is that nobodies infallible._

 _Not even the gods._

 _Or spirits._

 _God, capital G, is, but he(she) doesn't really talk much in this story so it's basically a nonissue._

 _Everyone else?_

 _Completely fallible._

 _Also, spoiler alert, although technically it's less of a spoiler and more me pointing out something I already said._

 _If you don't want to hear this bit of info, don't listen to it._

 _..._

 _They gone yet?_

 _..._

 _Good._

 _Basically, remember how I said everyone on Kyoshi Island was frozen in a giant Iceberg?_

 _All of them?_

 _How about we take a second and think about everyone who was a Kyoshi warrior at the end of ATLA._

 _..._

 _Just..._

 _..._

 _Think about it._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Done?_

 _..._

 _..._

 _Good._

 _Now think about the consequences of that._


	4. Scene 4: Culture Shock

Scene 4, Chap 4

Culture Shock

 **Sarah pov**

Soon enough we arrived in Republic City, and man, did it look like early 20th century New York.

Although minus guns, which would make it weird.

And plus magic, making it weirder.

But the most important thing that I learned when we arrived at the city, was that Korra's incredible lack of street smarts, or just general knowledge about the world, or hell, life in general, was going to kill me.

I learned this when we unloaded off the ship and Korra tried to run off on Naga into the city.

Damn near had an aneurism when she did that.

 _Where the hell is she going?!_ I though as she started moving away from us in her excitement.

Thinking quickly I grabbed onto Naga's tail as she ran past, and dug into the ground by creating metal spikes under my metal boots that gave me more grip.

The result, to Mary, was pretty funny.

Naga was pulled back by her tail with a jolt and yelped in pain. Korra was thrown off Naga and flew into the ground, face planting hard. And I tore up the ground around me slightly as I dug into it, while having a look of total annoyance on my face.

Korra got up, spat out some dirt, wiped some of the blood off her scratched up face, and looked at me angrily, obviously very unhappy as to what happened. Then again that's to be expected when you're riding on your giant dog into a big city when you've never seen the outside of a frozen prison, completely excited at the prospect of seeing everything there is to see in the city, just on top of the world, when suddenly you're yanked off your dog and face plant directly into the ground.

"Sarah, what was that for?!" Korra cried indignantly.

"Where in the fuck were you going?!" I responded, annoyed at how impulsive she had been.

"I was going to explore the city!"

"By yourself?"

"…Yes" She reluctantly answered

"Even though you've never been outside your Fortress of Solitude, and have lived _the_ most sheltered life I've ever seen." I countered

"I'm not that bad!"

"You didn't even know how the fuck to use money!" I countered again

"How the fuck were you planning on doing anything without any goddamn money?!" I continued

"…um…" She mumbled, completely defeated.

"Great plan" I mused sarcastically

Korra just sighed in resignation and said, "So what's the plan." She said walking over to us.

"Well, we're all hungry so let's go find something to eat, than explore the city for a while. I don't want to go straight to the air-benders, Tenzin rejected you right?" I said

Korra simply nodded sadly in acknowledgment.

"Then if we went to Tenzin right away, he'd probably just yell at us for breaking you out of prison and send you straight back."

"Yeah, you're right" Korra sadly admitted. I got the feeling that that was pretty much the extent of her plans. Come here, head straight for Tenzin, learn air magic.

"So what do we do then?" She continued, perking up slightly.

"Well, I believe it would be prudent for us to gather intelligence on this city, learn the terrain, and then potentially establish a foothold in the city so they can't just extradite you back to the White Lotus." Mary said, putting down a fairly good plan.

"Foothold?" I questioned. I kind of knew what she meant, but it was still on odd use of the word.

"Yes. What I mean is that we should get jobs, a house, something to establish a more permanent form of presence for us in this city. That way we can go from being visitors to inhabitants, and hopefully at that point we can use the local authorities to protect us." Mary elaborated.

By this point we had started walking together to look for a food shop.

"How would living here get the police to protect us from the White Lotus, aren't they all on the same side?" Korra asked

"Unlikely, I got the sense that the White Lotus are an independent group, at the very least the local police won't like some other foreign organization interfering in their territory. And if we live here then the Police will see us more as part of their group, as opposed to outsiders who aren't their problem."

"Plus if you weren't technically in prison at the compound then they can't legally keep you there if you're an adult, which since you're 18, you are. And if you live here then they have no legal ability to rip you from your home and take you back." Mary finished explaining.

"Unless they do, in which case we're gonna have to fight for your freedom." I asserted

"You'd really do that for me?" Korra asked the two of us, touched by what I said

"No" Mary said flatly

Korra looked crushed, I just slapped Mary in the back of the head

 **Smack!**

"Ignore her." I said, comforting her,

"We're your friends," Then I thought about it, "Well I'm your friend, Mary doesn't really _do_ friends, but she will help me help you, right Mary?" I said, turning to look at my sister while saying the last part a sweetly as possible.

"Depends" She responds flatly without looking at us.

 _Classic Mary._ I think to myself as we continue walking.

We find a nice shop selling different types of kabobs and we decide to get some.

And by we I mean Korra just took some and we had to pay the store owner. Korra just looks at us sheepishly after we pay the storeowner and apologizes for it profusely, but we sternly, and possibly a little ominously, told her that we would teach her to how to use money properly or, as Mary said "You won't have any hands left to spend it with.", which got her a look of, _what the actual fuck Mary?!_ , from me.

Then we decided to eat the kabobs in the park next to the lake there, when Korra decided to go fishing while Mary and I weren't paying attention, and were instead planning our next move. That's when we met the homeless guy, who confused Korra, which at this point wasn't very hard, because he was homeless. Apparently Korra thought everyone was living the good life in the city.

Fucking adorable right?

Yeah, when she said that it gave everyone a good laugh, even Mary thought it was funny that Korra knew oh so very little about the city.

Oh but she would learn, she would learn.

Anyway, after we fed the nice homeless guy with a bush, who I've decided to call homeless bush guy, we were chased off by police.

After that something _really_ interesting happened. We ran into a guy with Equalist posters and shit. He was talking about how mages were oppressing normal people, which made me consider how true this was. Knowing how much power corrupts I could easily see this happening, the power of mages, if left unchecked, could easily be used to suppress the average person who lacked magic. Of course Korra didn't see it that way.

"Bending the greatest thing in the world!" Korra defiantly exclaimed.

I shook my head in response and said, "Korra just stop talking."

"What?! Why should I?! Are you hearing the things these guys are saying about benders?!"

"Yeah, and I wouldn't be all that surprised if it was true." I replied with knowledge of a cruel world where such things were relatively commonplace.

"Wha-I don't believe this, you're a bender too! How can you stand the things this guy is saying about us?!" Korra replied, feeling somewhat betrayed.

"Oh so you three are all benders are you?" The Equalist guy asked in an accusing tone.

"Yeah, _and_?" I replied blandly, not liking his tone one bit but also not rising to his challenge.

Korra didn't either but she took the bait he left out with a lot more…spirit, yeah let's call it spirit.

"Yeah I am!" she answered, which made me smack myself in the head from her rash reaction.

Mary, on the other hand thought this whole thing was stupid and decided to walk away from it.

"And I bet you would love to just blast me off this platform with your water bending wouldn't you?" He accused.

"I'm seriously thinking-OW!" Korra started to say as she was about to fall right into the trap he set up, fortunately she had me there, or the crowd would have eaten her alive. Since I could see where this was going from a mile away I…intervened by kicking her in the shin, hard.

As Korra hoped on her non-injured foot while holding her injured shin, I stepped in front of her and answered the speaker's accusation.

"No, I'm actually curious to hear more you have to say about this oppression." I responded, genuinely interested.

This was clearly _not _ the response they were expecting, in fact it kind of took the wind out of their sails. Here they found someone, a mage, who they could use to point out all the problems of mages here, as well as taking out their frustration on them, and instead of proving to be every bit as violent and racist as they wanted me to be, I was actually asking them to tell me more.

"What?" The speaker eventually said, speechless, and it seemed to be what everyone else in the crowd was saying too.

"Yeah, me, my sister, and my friend, are all new in town, and where me and my sister are from we have a different kind of discrimination and inequality, one we're the subjects of. So when I hear you talking about mages, I mean benders, oppressing the average person I can't help but feel empathy towards that position, and I want to learn more about it, to try to see if I can do anything about it." I honestly reply

The speaker seemed to consider my words very thoughtfully, he looked me in the eyes and saw the sincerity in them, realizing that I really meant what I said he asked, "What's your name?"

"Sarah, and yours?" I asked

"Lee. You know what, you're the first bender I've ever met that actually seriously asked to learn more about the discrimination we faced, let alone wanting to help us out."

"Well as I said, I'm no stranger to racism, my friend on the other hand" I start pointing at Korra, who is currently looking at me with a look that says, _Sarah! What the hell are you doing?!_. "Has lived something of a sheltered life, and the only thing she really knows is magic, I mean bending, so to her you kind of insulted the only thing she ever knew, so you can imagine why she would act like she did." I continue.

Korra looks like she was about to say something in defense of herself, but fortunately she thought better of it before actually saying anything.

"Yeah, I guess I can see why she would get all defensive from the way I acted." He admitted

"But if you really want to know more about the Equalists and the discrimination and oppression going on in the city you should come to the Equalist rally in a few nights, here are a few flyers." He continued, giving me a handful of flyers.

"Thanks, I'll see if I can."

After that I asked if he knew any good places to find and apartment or something for three people and he pointed me in the direction of the Dragon Flats.

When we left Korra asked me, "Sarah, what was that about? Why did you side with those jerks?"

I raised an eyebrow and gave her a look while I said, "Did you even pay attention to what was said back there?"

"Well kind of, but you sided with those non-benders, why would you do that? They hated benders like us?!"

"Yeah, and notice how they responded to my reaction to their accusations and jabs." I countered pointedly

She thought about it for a minute before responding, "They calmed down and listened." She realized.

"Not only that, but they invited me to their fancy ass shindig!" I replied excitedly, pleased with myself.

"Congratulations, you made more friends." Mary said dryly, appearing behind us from out of nowhere, though being her twin sister and living with her for my entire life, I always kind of knew where she was and was rarely surprised by her sudden appearances.

Korra, on the other hand, wasn't prepared for Mary doing her thing, and yelped inn surprise.

"Yeah I did" I said, still happy with myself "And they invited me to their fancy ass shindig!"

"Yes, I heard."

I turned back to Korra as we walked towards the Dragon Flats, "SO…" I started, getting her attention.

"Yeah" she answered, turning back to me.

"What did we learn?" I asked

She thought carefully for a moment before saying, "Just because someone doesn't agree with you, doesn't like you, or has a poor opinion of you, doesn't mean you should lash out at them."

 _Oh my god she's learning!_ I thought proudly before turning to Mary and saying, "See, I told you that she's not an idiot, she's just poorly educated."

"I didn't say she was an idiot, I said she was a fool, she could very well be a clever fool, but she would still be a fool." Mary calmly responded, as if pointing out a simple fact.

Korra did not approve.

"What?" She growled indignantly while glaring at Mary, although her glare was somewhat mitigated by the fact that Mary wasn't even looking at Korra.

"Ignore her." I told Korra, to which she just grumbled in response.

* * *

We kept walking towards the Dragon flats when Mary spotted a clothing store that met her exacting standards.

"Stop", She ordered.

"What?" I asked, not seeing the store and thus not understanding why she was stopping.

"Sarah, all your clothes were burned up when Korra set you on fire right? And that's why you're still wearing her clothes." She stated

"I said I was sorry!" Korra cried, but Mary just ignored her.

"Yeah?" I confirmed, but the way I said it made it sound more like a question, one that asked Mary to explain.

"Well Sarah, right over there is a clothing store that I believe will have everything that we will need, so you will get your clothes, and I will get some…materials, as well as other various endeavors." Mary explained

"Oh…okay, I guess." I replied, somewhat taken back, I hadn't actually really thought about getting new clothes, but as I thought about it I saw that it made a lot of sense, I mean couldn't just wear Korra's clothes all the time.

"What about me?" Korra asked, not sure where she fit into this plan.

"You can wait out here." Mary answered simply

"What? Why can't I go with you guys?"

"Do you need to buy clothes?"

"Uh…no, you guys reminded me to bring as many clothes as I would need with me." Korra answered, slightly taken aback at first by Mary's question.

"Then you do not need to come in with us, and frankly I don't trust you to not make fools of us if we go into the store." Mary answered truthfully

"Wha, why don't you trust me?!" Korra asked indignantly, she really didn't like how Mary kept treating her like an irresponsible child.

However, in response to Korra's question Mary just gave her a look that said, _Really? You don't have_ _any_ _idea why I wouldn't trust you to not make us look like fools in that clothing store? Are you sure you're going to go with that?_

Mary's look made Korra rethink her question, and made her look back at her previous actions to see why Mary wouldn't trust her to make fools of them all. She remembered accidentally burning me alive, how naïve she was about the world outside the compound, how she tried to buy food without money, how she tried to fish in the pond in the park, and how she had almost incited a mob. Those memories made her realize why Mary might not trust her not to make fools of them in the store.

" _Okay_ , you may have a point, I'll wait outside." She reluctantly admitted with a sigh, turning around and leaving us to enter the store without her.

As Mary and I walked into the fancy clothing store named The Golden Vine, I saw out of the corner of my eye Korra walking down the street, back towards the street with the record store we had seen earlier.

* * *

When I was finally able to drag Mary out of the store she had not only gotten three large bags of clothes, jewelry and other feminine goods, which **I** had to carry, but she had somehow managed to _make_ money. Yeah. That's right. Not only did we get everything for free, but Mary had also gotten a large purse to hold the large bag of money she had gotten as well as a _job_ at the store. I wasn't there when Mary made the money, but from I could gather she made it by selling them some beautiful jewelry that far out shined most everything that they had in the store. I'm guessing that when they learned that Mary had made that jewelry with her metal magic that they had immediately hired her, very eager to get someone with her talents.

So as we left the Golden Vine with our spoils of war we noticed that Korra wasn't here, neither was Naga, which was…distressing.

"Fuck. Where is she?" I asked, looking around.

"And this is why I didn't want to take her into the store, she's like a child really. Although I suppose that explains why you have a thing for her." Mary said, not helping

I simply glared at her in a silent response that said, _Not! __The! __Time_ _!_

Suddenly we heard the sound of the ground being ripped, a wheels screeching, and a car crashing.

"Double Fuck!" I curse, somehow I just knew that Korra was somehow involved.

We ran down the street to the source of the sound and saw the carnage before us.

Korra was standing in front of the record store that we had passed in front of a while ago, around her was a destroyed street, ripped apart from the use of earth magic, some things on fire, likely from fire magic, and a bunch of water lying around, which was likely from water magic. It looked like Korra had used her earth magic to rip up the ground and make a car crash into a building, whose occupants were all unconscious. All in all it looked like the scene of a battleground, with destroyed, burnt, and wet shit everywhere. The owners of the shop did _not_ look happy.

"Korra!" I cry out at her, after just staring at her in awe of her ability to fuck things up,

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" I continue, waving my hands in the air in my incredulous anger.

"We leave you alone for Five Fucking Minutes…...HOW THE FUCK DID YOU START A WAR IN FIVE FUCKING MINUTES?"

Mary, meanwhile, is actually expressing genuine emotion at this scene, and not her usual fake ones, although it wasn't exactly as…expressive as me, and it was also a little hard to determine which emotion was dominant, confusion, anger, or shock.

"How did you do all this in five minutes?" Mary asks, mostly to herself as she says it just under her breath.

Korra, through all of this, had seemed to go through a kind of roller-coaster of emotions. When we got here she looked very proud at what she had done, but then she recoiled in shock and fear at my reaction to what she did, then she looked mad at me being mad her.

"Hey, I was defending these people!" She says, defending herself as she gestures towards the owners of the record store.

"These guys", she continues, now gesturing at the car filled with drooling comatose concussion victims, "Where trying to steal from the store owners and break their stuff, and I stopped them." She stubbornly defended

I now understood why she had done what she had done, and to be honest, in her position I would have done much the same thing, although I would like to think I would have been a little less destructive. Frustrated at how complicated this situation is I pull my hair back with my hands and take a breath to calm down, just getting mad wouldn't do anyone any good.

"Okay, I get why you did that, but you have to understand that…" I started, but wasn't able to finish because a metal cable from the sky had speared into the ground nearby, braking through the concrete with ease, at the same time we became shrouded in a large shadow of something big in the sky.

We all looked up to behold a large grey airship hovering above us, from it several harpoons had been fired into the surrounding area, anchoring the ship over us.

"Metal benders." Korra said in awe.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, which Mary matched and we both looked at each other, taking the moment to engage in a silent conversation.

 _Metal benders?_

 _She means metal mages_

 _Yeah, I know that._

 _You want to know why they're here._

 _Yeah, I don't know why mages would come here after an incident like that like_ _this_ _._

 _Yes, I am also confused as to why any one group of mages would show up here like that, let alone any group of people, given what's going on. Unless of course they were the…_

While we were exchanging looks several armored people had descended from the Zeppelin, one of them walked up to Korra, and she proudly looked to him.

"Hello Officer, I caught the bad guys for you." She said with a pleased smirk.

… _Police_

 _Shit._

 _Just Shit._ I thought, finishing our silent conversation as my eyes went wide as I realized that these metal mage were the police, and I knew that the police would definitely _not_ approve of Korra's behavior. As I had my realization I tuned out most of what Korra and the police officer were saying until the officer said, "You're under arrest too."

In that moment time slowed to a crawl as the officer shot his hand forward. I could sense that this armored man had coils of metal cables and their housing assemblies, and that he was trying to shoot a cable at Korra. Reacting quickly I use my metal magic to grab ahold of the cable before it reached Korra, moving it in an arc around Korra before grabbing it in my hand. Once it was in my hand I used my immense physical strength to pull the officer towards me. The Officer tried to resist this by digging his feet into the pavement, but this just resulted in me ripping the entire cable assembly off his back, staggering him, and giving me a very long flail-like weapon.

All the officers seemed stunned at what I had done, it was fairly obvious that I had done metal magic, which for some reason surprised them, and that gave me enough time to make my move.

"Korra get on Naga and let's get the fuck out of here!" I ordered her, who seemed shaken, surprised by how things had turned out, but she did as I told her.

As she moved to get on Naga I liquefied most of the metal cable that was currently wrapped around my arm. As I shifted it around and changed it shape using liquid form it slowly took a familiar shape around my arms and legs. When I was done the grey liquid had solidified into a set of metal gauntlets and greaves and boots. It was my usual combat setup, and having it back on made me feel great, I finally felt truly comfortable again, I could feel the adrenaline surge through my system, flooding my body, fueling me. I was thrilled to be filled with this intoxicating feeling again, but I knew that while I could stand and fight all these guys into the ground, what I needed to do was help secure our escape.

Korra came up to me on Naga, holding out her hand and saying, "Get on." with a concerned look on her face.

I took her hand and jumped on Naga, and I looked over to Mary to tell her to get on, I opened my mouth to talk, but she interrupted me.

"No. You two are both idiots, I'm going to surrender to the police and get this mess sorted out while you two play cops and robbers." Mary told me with a slightly annoyed frown, one that made her it look like she was more annoyed that we had made her do a bunch of unnecessary work, rather than one that felt defiant, angry, resentful, or at all spiteful.

I nodded and told Korra to just go without her, understanding that Mary would be totally fine, I had total confidence in her negotiating skills, after all, she had just walked into a store to buy clothes and walked out with half the store, a sack of money, and a new job. Then again, maybe that's what she really went in there for, knowing Mary that was the most likely answer, one really shouldn't take much at face value with her.

"Are you sure? I think Naga could take her too." Korra asked, not nearly as confident as I was in my sister.

"Yeah, after what she just did at the Golden Vine I have no doubt that Mary'll be fine. Now let's go!" I said, urging Korra to leave my sister behind.

As we started to leave on Naga the Officers got out of their stupor, and tried to tie down Naga with their cables. I countered with my own magic, directing all the cables straight into the ground with a wave of my hand downwards, and with a sideways swipe of my hand I was surprised to find I could exerted my influence over the metal armor of the officers, allowing me to throw them all back into the ground as we made our getaway.

 _Huh,_ I thought, _that wouldn't usually work, normally their own magic would interfere with my ability to control their clothes, am I really that much stronger then them?_

We eventually escaped onto the rooftops, Korra thought we were home free, but I could feel the immense presence of metal behind us, and before we knew it tendrils of metal were carving their way through the sky towards us. I was able to use my magic to deflect all of them into rooftops, although they would just retract the cable and fire it at us again, I needed a more permanent solution. As we approached the waterfront I decided that instead of just deflecting the cables I would actually fight back.

When the next cable came towards us I jumped off Naga, grabbed the cable in midair, pulling it with me. When I landed I pulled on the cable hard, pulling the officer it was attached to off his platform on the airship, and I used my magic to alter his trajectory to cause him to fall safely into the river, which also worked to strand him in the water.

After that I turned to Korra and used my magic to allow me to run and jump farther and faster, letting me catch up with Naga and keep up.

As they kept throwing cables at me I kept throwing the officers using them into the ocean, until finally they either ran out of officers or gave up trying to catch us with what they had, seeing as how it only seemed to result in getting them thrown into the water. Once the airship peeled off I looked to Korra and told her to get off the rooftops and into the alleyways, to get out of sight of the cops.

We hid in an abandoned building for a while as we waited for the cost to be clear before finally going back outside.

"So, what now?" Korra asked, completely unsure about what to do next. It had only been one day in this city and we had already been in a police chase, and we were probably wanted criminals now. Which wasn't exactly a totally new experience for me.

"Well, what we did is relatively slight, we didn't kill anybody, or steal anything, you just enacted some vigilante justice, and then we resisted arrest. They probably won't want to hunt us down too badly, so that's good." I said, my hand on my chin as I thought about our next move.

"What about Mary? She got arrested, do we break her out or something."

"Oh no no no, this is _Mary_ we're talking about, she'll be fine." I said laughing, "You don't know her like I do, I have complete confidence in Mary's ability to talk her way out of any situation."

"Really?" Korra asked understandably skeptical.

"Yeah, when we came out of the Golden Vine, not only did we buy like half the damn store, but she also had a huge ass sack full of money, and a job working with their jeweler or something."

"Oh, I guess that's good." She said, not as impressed as I thought she would be, but then I realized that she probably didn't really have a good handle on how hard and impressive that was to do.

We eventually decided that we would continue over to the Dragon Flats and look for a house or something to stay at while we waited for Mary to show up, we expected that that's where she would expect us to be.

* * *

There was no sign saying "Welcome to the Dragon Flats" or anything, but it we could tell when we were in the middle of it. It was nighttime by the time we got there, it had taken a long time to walk there as the chase with the police had lead us in the opposite direction. We were wondering where to start looking for a place to stay when we heard a familiar voice.

"Finally, you've arrived." Mary said, coming out from out of nowhere…again. If I didn't know better I would have said she trained as a ninja or something.

She was trained by someone _way_ better than a simple ninja.

"Mary! You got away from the police! You're okay!" Korra cried as she ran up and hugged Mary.

Mary didn't really… _do_ hugs.

In response to getting hugged by Korra she stiffened and put on her panic face.

She looked to me, silently saying, _Sarah, help me! How do I get this thing off me?! I don't know what to do!_

I, of course, being the good sister I was, decide there but one course of action I could take.

I laughed my ass off.

Which, ironically, did get Korra off Mary, as she instead turned to me with a questioning look, she had no idea why I was laughing, and meanwhile Mary just glared at me in a way that let me know that I would likely suffer for it latter.

I waved her off and said, "Don't worry about it, it's not important."

"Okay." She accepted skeptically.

As I recomposed myself Korra asked Mary how in the world she got out away from the police.

"They released me." She stated simply.

"Why would they do that?" She questioned, suspicious of the real reason that she got away.

"Well, frankly a full explanation would involve an hour or two of recalling conversations that went on between me and several officers, their superiors, as well as thorough explanations of why I said what I said. I would also need to make use of several charts and diagrams." Mary explained in a bored factual tone, but I could see that there actually was something she was hiding in there, she wasn't necessarily lying, but there was something she was hiding.

"So instead I will tell you what it resulted in, for that is what is important."

"Wait, are you saying you got us presents from the police…the ones who arrested you?" I asked, unsure of how exactly she could have managed that.

"Yes actually." She answered. We both stared at her in disbelief.

"I got the two of you exonerated for your crimes, so you don't have to worry about the police chasing after you anymore. Fortunately since Korra only used earth magic to fight the gang members they don't know that she's the avatar. In addition they gave us a place to stay, a nice new house in the Marble Crown on the other side of the city." She elaborated.

"What's the Marble Crown?" Korra asked

"It's another neighborhood, like this is the Dragon Flats, although the Marble Crown is much closer to the Golden Vine, and, as the name implies, it is a primarily earth mage neighborhood. Well, mostly people from the earth kingdom, not terribly sure how many are mages or not."

"So great, it's on the other side of town, so know we have to all the back to the other side of town, great." I said sarcastically, I was tired so I wasn't in a very appreciative mood. "Did you get a car to go along with your police gift basket too?"

"Correct." She said simply

"…what?" I said dumbly, not believing that I had accidentally guessed correctly.

"Yes, they also gave me a car."

"Why the hell would they give you a car?!" I cried, very confused, I looked over to Korra for support only to find that her jaw had impacted the ground and she was stuck in a state of shock. Apparently she was able to understand how it was to get that much stuff from the police, especially when you get arrested by them.

"Well the police tend to take care of their own." She answered with smirk, one that I knew was genuine, she enjoyed making me squirm, her form of love and affection really.

"…You work for the police now."

"Correct."

At this point my mouth and brain were both trying to make words, but they couldn't agree on what to say so I just mouthed silently, searching for how to respond. Finally I said, "How, why? I don't- what the shit Mary?"

"I was able to have them hire me on as a consultant after I talked with their police chief, she was also the one who secured me the house in the Marble Crown, as well as requisitioning me the car. Apparently us being metal mages is very unusual and intriguing for them, and I was able to use that to prove my worth to them." Mary explained, her smirk dissolving into her normal face of cold, bored, intent.

"What do you mean a consultant?" Korra asked, finally able to speak.

"A consultant is someone who helps the police from time to time, usually when they ask for the consultant's help." I explained. " But they usually don't give out cars and houses to their consultants" I said coldly and skeptically, I knew that my sister was hiding something about this arrangement, I doubt she stole them, that wasn't her style, but the thought of the unknown scared me.

 _What could she be hiding, what could she be keeping from us?_

"Oh, you must let me keep some secrets, my dear sister." Mary said cryptically with her evil smirk growing across her face once again.

That's when I _knew _ that she was up to something, that smirk was genuine as fuck, which usually means bad things for someone, I didn't think we were in immediate danger or anything, but I did think that she was keeping something morally reprehensible from us. But I also knew that I wasn't going to get anything out of her, she was too good for that.

"Now, let us embark towards our new house." She said, gesturing to her car.

We all climbed in, a frown deeply set on my face from my suspicious outlook on the situation. Korra, on the other hand, seemed to be skeptical at first, but upon seeing the car she was very excited, having never actually seen a car up close before. However there was the problem of Naga, who would definitely not fit in the car. Korra eventually decide to ride Naga and have her follow us on our way to the house.

As we made our way there I asked Mary another question that had been nagging at me.

"What about your job at the Golden Vine?" I asked

"Please Sarah, we both know that I am more than capable of having two or more jobs at the same time. We both are."

"I suppose that's true, but I would think that there would be some overlap between the two."

"Not really" She said simply, and that was the end of it, the rest of the car ride was set in silence.

Less than an hour later we arrived in front of our new house, and it was surprisingly large on the inside, it wasn't a mansion or anything, but it was a three-bedroom, two-story house with a garage and a decent sized backyard for Naga to stay. The house was mostly square-shaped and angular, and frankly it was surprisingly western in its design, although I suppose that's why we had it. It was sandwiched between other buildings of similar buildings of similar design that made up the whole block.

"So this is home." I said simply, finally laying eyes on our new house.

"Correct, now Korra, there are a list of rules that I will give you about what to do and what not to do, especially regarding the use of magic and Naga." Mary told Korra

"Whaaat?" Korra whined, really not liking the idea of being restricted again.

"Korra, it's less of a rulebook of, 'what not to do or you'll get punished.'" I said in a mockingly authoritarian voice, "It's more like a list of shit to do to keep you from fucking up and starting a riot or something." I said, trying to convince it was okay, and not at all like the Fortress of Solitude.

"It's more like a guide than a list of restrictions." Mary said attempting to help.

Korra sighed in resignation before saying, "Okay, I guess that makes sense."

So here we were, me, my sister, and Korra, a princess, a rebel, and an avatar, all out of place, looking to find their place in the world, and all of us starting our new lives in this new house. If only we knew of the chaos we would create.

* * *

 _A/n: Tadaa. That's the end of ep 1. I hope this make up for the last chapter which was both short and lackluster. That being said, I felt it was necessary to lay down some foundations._ _This also means I'll be slowing down my upload rate. If you can't tell yet, there is plenty more to the story. This is going to be looonnggg. If my math's right then we're looking at maybe like 64 chapters, or 320,000 words. ish. And that's just this book. That being said I have enough back log to go up to and beyond the first arc._

 _Also, I've noted that in a lot of these stories, but not all of them, people rag on the Equalists._

 _When there's an OC they sometimes come in and during the Equalist scene they criticize the spokesperson._

 _And later on they'll criticize the Equalists for being racists._

 _I have a problem with that, a rather large one in fact._

 _You see to me, all these people keep forgetting one very important fact._

 _The Equalists had a fucking point._

 _I mean, sure, they were aggressive, racist, terrorists_

 _They still had a point though._

 _The gangs were running rampant through the city doing whatever they wanted, killing who they wanted, and non-benders were being oppressed by the bending-based scociety._

 _Yeah, a lot of the richest people weren't benders, but even they were almost completely defenseless against benders who decided to attack them._

 _Compared to much of what benders could do, many non-benders couldn't even hope to compete._

 _Any non-bender needed extensive specialized training to even hope to compete against all but the weakest of benders._

 _Not to mention, there were many more job opportunities for benders since their bending gave them special talents that could be used, like how Mako used lightning bending to work at an electrical plant._

 _Most people don't even have the possibility of being able to do that._

 _So I feel like a lot of stories don't exactly point that out._

 _Some do, but don't really do anything about it._

 _Not event eh show._

 _I could be wrong, but I feel like what happened with the show was that they introduced Amon and the Equalists as the bad guys, said they had something of a point_

 _Then they added Asami to give the non-bender point of view, though her being rich and having a bright future ahead of her kind of diluted the effect of that a bit_

 _but then at the end they just had Korra beat Amon and reveal his true abilities, and once that happened everyone seemed to drop the issue._

 _It was almost like they were saying Amon made the whole thing up to get an army, but the problem wasn't actually that bad to begin with._

 _I thought that was a poor choice, but it also seemed to be how Korra solved many issues._

 _She's introduced to a complicated may-faceted problem that can't just be solved with violence._

 _She solves it with **mostly** violence, with a touch of diplomacy or spiritualism, and then everything's either solved, or they forget about it._

 _Usually both_

 _Except for the whole earth kingdom thing, I kind of liked that because everything kind of devolved into a mess, which is how it should actually happen._

 _That being said, I don't like how Kuvira was turned into the bad guy for what she was doing_

 _For me what she was doing made sense._

 _May have been a touch overzealous, but I liked it, for the most part._

 _Anyway, what I'm trying to say, and poorly at that, is that things with the Equalists will be different than in cannon thanks to Sarah, Mary, and the shit that happened from the Kyoshi Event_

 _In the end, most problems want be solved with nothing but grit, will, friendship, and beating people up._

 _Stuff will be solved by that, though, at least kind of, so don't worry._

 _It's just, I'll try to make things more of the nonsensical chaotic mess that is inherent when dealing with the human race._

 _An example for a story I think does this well, in my humble and fallible opinion, is **The** **Castaway** by Raven Hallowryn, which I think is a deep long story that goes into a different direction than cannon, and some dark places, but does it well. _

_It also does the whole, "Mankind kind is is glorious fucking mess of chaos, sadness, love, and darkness" thing very well._

 _It's mush better than mine, at least, though be prepared for the places it goes to._


	5. Scene 5: And Here Beginith the Lesson

Scene 5, Chap5

And Here Beginith the Lesson

 **Korra pov**

We had finally settled down in the house Mary got for us through…unusual means. She still hadn't explained exactly what she would be doing for the police, only that had to do with whatever deal she had made with the chief of police. I even asked Sarah about it, and in response she would usually frown and say that her sister is very good at keeping secrets if she wants to. Soon however, I got over it and just accepted that we lived here.

Since Mary had two jobs, one she never actually went to somehow, she was the one who put food on the table. In the meantime me and Sarah looked for other jobs to get, we couldn't let Mary do all the work. In her spare time Mary would go to the library and read about this world to try and find a way home. She also kept a lookout for any news that might point them in the direction of the Fluid of Space.

One of the other things I thought about was my duel with Sarah, after seeing how she fought off those officers with her metal bending I was concerned about how I might fare against her. I had never really fought a metal bender before and I wasn't really sure what to expect from her. Metal bending was supposed to be a higher form of earth bending, meaning that a metal bender was superior to a simple earth bending master. One could even say that you weren't a true earth bending master until you were a metal bending master, and considering I wasn't a metal bender yet I couldn't help but wonder how much Sarah surpassed me as an earth bender.

Sure, I had faced off against three gangsters and beaten them with just earth bending, but that didn't change the fact that she had fought off an _entire_ airship filled with metal bending police officers with just a few waves of her hand. However, unlike me or Mary she didn't really use her bending all the time to help her do stuff. Actually, now that I thought about it even Mary didn't use her bending as much I did. I would use water bending to wash dishes, earth bending to move heavy stuff on slabs of earth, and fire bending to heat stuff up, but Mary rarely used her bending to move stuff around with a purpose, she would usually use it when bored if anything, using it to manipulate her mother's ring or to play with her metal dress. Sarah never used her bending, the only time I had seen her do so was during the police chase. I didn't really know what to make of that.

However, one day my time ran out and Sarah finally challenged me to the duel. We went downstairs into the basement, which was a small gym, where she cleared the equipment and left a large open space on flat granite floor. The area was a bit smaller than I was used to for a sparing, but I would make do. Mary followed us down to watch, and I got the distinct impression that she was waiting to see how badly Sarah destroyed me, it was that predatory look in her eyes.

I looked at Sarah to see a pleasant surprise. She was wearing her workout clothes, which consisted of a black sports bra, or so Mary told me it was called, according to Sarah it was a croptop tanktop, I didn't really know who to believe. Paired with that was a pair of grey sweatpants, again that's what they called them, in either case I had never seen them before so I took their word on it. She was barefoot and wearing nothing on her hands, and that was what made me pleasantly surprised, she wasn't wearing her boots and gauntlets, which meant she might not be planning on going as all out as she had against the officers.

We entered the center of the room, I knew that I would have the rock floor to bend and fire, but I wouldn't be able to use water bending unfortunately. When I complained Sarah said "Oh no, the all-powerful avatar is limited to only two elements, it's _so_ unfair." Mockingly

That shut me up.

So we stood about ten feet apart from each other, both getting into our fighting stances, although Sarah went into a strange one for an earth bender, raising her fists up in front of her body, putting it into a stance that would allow her lunge in any direction at the slightest provocation. It was nothing like the earth bending stance I had seen being used, it had much more in common with fire bending than earth bending.

I attacked first, using earth bending to throw a chunk of the floor at her. Just as I thought she lunged to the side, crouching down as she lands on the ground as if coiling a spring again. The rook goes flying past her, missing her by a wide margin and crashing into the wall on the other side of the room.

I send a fireball at her crouched form while I prepare a rock to be thrown at wherever she lands. She jumps again, just as I predict, and the second I see where she's going to land I throw the head-sized rock there. However, she reacts much faster than I would have thought possible, when she lands she sees the rock flying at her, and instead of jumping out of the way she just leans to the side to have the rock narrowly miss her.

This marked a turning point in her method of fighting, instead jumping out of the way of my attacks she just bends out of the way slightly. The way she fights completely befuddles me, instead of taking a sturdy, solid earth bending stance and throw rocks at me she opts to just dodge everything I send at her, she hasn't even earth bent once during the entire match! She is the most unusual earth bender I have ever seen, but considering she hasn't even moved to attack I don't think that she's taking this match seriously, which frustrates me.

"Stop being a coward and fight back Sarah!" I yell at her in frustration, which I match by sending a large amount of rocks at her at once, hoping to overwhelm her defenses through sheer numbers.

"Alright, as you command." She says with the predatory grin she's been wearing the entire match.

In response to my barrage of earth bending Sarah simply weaves her way through all of them, moving at just the right time to dodge each and every one of them with inhuman reflexes, if I didn't know any better I would have said she was an air bender. As the last rock in the onslaught approaches her she spins around it, pivoting on the ball of her foot. Halfway through the rotation, when she has her back facing me and is looking at the rock which is flying away from her at this point, she reaches out and grabs the rock. She continues the rotation, her arm carrying the rock outstretched, before stopping the rotation looking at me, she release the rock, using her circular motion to accelerate the rock even faster than I had thrown it at her.

As it flies at me I don't have time to dodge or to block, when it was flying at me I was in the process of fire bending a fireball at Sarah so I can do nothing but follow through with the attack. The rock hits me hard in the shoulder, throwing me off my balance and forcing me to realign myself and bring myself back into stance. I can tell from how hard it hit that it would leave a nice big bruise on my skin later.

When I look back at Sarah I see that she just spun around the fireball like she did the rock, but fortunately she didn't throw it back at me.

Not sure how she would do it, exactly, but at this point she was defying all my expectations so who knows.

As time continues to crawl forward I see that Sarah is quickly approaching me. As surprised as I am that as a bender she's trying to enter close combat with me I still react instinctively by throwing a stream of fire at her, hoping to force her back. Instead of being forced back she instead ducks under and to the side of the line of fire, hiding from my sight by hiding behind my flames. In response I drop the fire, instead opting to fire a fireball and a rock at wherever she is.

To my surprise, however, it turns out that she is, in fact, much closer than I thought. At this distance she lunges at me, launching a fist right into my gut, sending agonizing pain right through my body, making me double over in pain. She quickly follows up that attack before I can react by launching a flurry of blows against my arms and chest, leaving me sore and bruised, but not down and out, and she knows this. She grabs onto my right arm, holding it in a punishing vice grip. She uses this to gain control and leverage over my body by exerting her tremendous strength over it.

In the next two seconds she has my face pressed against the ground as she's kneeling on top of my back, forcing me down with the weight of her own body, while she pins my right arm behind me in a position inches away from braking, pulling it tight against itself and the way it's supposed to bend. My other arm is pinned underneath me, my own body preventing me from moving it.

"Sooo, what do we say now?" Sarah says in a singsong voice, mocking my defeat.

I grunt in response, trying to move one of my limbs to bend, in response a sharp, blinding pain shoots through my right arm as Sarah moves it ever closer to the breaking point which causes me to yelp in pain.

"uh uh uh, that's not good sportsmanship, one should admit when their beaten." She chides, mocking me.

I groan in response to her mocking before taking stock and thinking about the position I'm in right now, I realize that I can't do anything other than surrender or get my arm broken, and considering this is just a friendly sparing match, it wasn't worth it.

"Alright I give up." I surrendered, at with that she got up off me and helped me up off the floor.

Once I rose back up to my feet I looked back at there and asked her about the match.

"Why didn't you bend during the match?" I asked, I was very confused, and I was kind of shaken. One of the core beliefs that I had been taught in the compound was that bending was power, and that as the avatar, master of all the elements, I was the most powerful person on the planet. While I no longer believed that it was as simple as that, I had thought going into this fight that bending was still power, to a degree. I had expect Sarah to fight me with her powerful metal bending abilities, and if I was going to be defeated by her, it would have been by her powerful bending skills. Not by her pining me to the ground with nothing but her own body.

"I don't tend to use magic to fight if I don't have to, especially not long range magic. I prefer to get up close and personal and let my own body do the damage. Besides, it's not a real fight unless you get the other guys blood on you." Sarah answered casually, but excitedly, as if it was a fact of herself, but one she was very happy with.

"Actually father says it's not a real fight unless the other guy bleeds, you don't actually have to get any of the blood on you." Mary corrects her sister

"Yeah says the one who always covers herself in in her enemy's blood, the one with the nickname 'Bloody Mary'." Sarah counters.

"Yes, but I also fight many of mother's kind of fights, the ones where the mind and soul bleed instead of the body."

"Wait, so why don't you like to use your bending in a fight again?" I asked again, still a little shaky on Sarah's reasoning

"Well you see, there are a lot of philosophical and spiritual reasons, but it all comes down to something pretty simple." She began before applying a dramatic pause.

"I like to punch people in the face" she finished simply

"Huh?" I asked quizzically

"I like to punch people in the face more than I like flinging them around with metal magic. I like to feel my body force itself against theirs, the feeling of two people and two wills going against each other in the purity of combat. I like to feel the crunch of my opponent's bones with every blow, the blood vessels bursting and bruising, bones braking, and skin splitting. I like to be right up in there, in the thick of battle, not standing back, slinging magic at them. Doing that just feels so impersonal." She clarified

Frankly I kind of think the way she describes fighting is somewhat disturbing, especially the look in her eyes and face she makes as she describes it. It's one that revels in combat, trading blow for blow, one who love giving pain just as much as she loves receiving it. But at the same time I feel something I find a hard to describe, the best I can do to put it to words is to say that it was a feeling of a kindred soul, the feeling that that was what I felt when I fought, the rush of the fight excited me and I felt the same way she did about it. I had just never really fought in a simple non-bending battle, after all, why would I? I had my bending after all, I would use that to fight, it was far superior to just using my fists, right?

But after my fight with Sarah I wasn't so sure, she was someone who looked like she was very experienced with fighting, one who reveled in as I did, and one who was a powerful bender just as I was, and yet instead of fighting with her bending as I did, she tended to use her bare body. Not only did she prefer it that way, but she was powerful enough to defeat me, the avatar, without using an ounce of bending, it made me realize that it was likely the case that Sarah could have beaten all the officers without her bending too, she just used it to expedite the process. It made me rethink how I could approach the way I fought. After all, despite not using her bending she made beating me look very easy, as I looked at her I could see that she hadn't lost a sweat, she wasn't even the slightest bit tired or out of breath.

"So how were you able to beat me so easily without your bending? I mean you dodged all my attacks effortlessly." I asked hoping she would share some insight that would help me better myself.

"Oh, well you see, you were actually one of the easier people I've ever fought." She admitted somewhat sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her right hand.

"What do you mean I'm one of the easiest people you've ever beaten?! I'm the avatar, I'm supposed to be one of the most powerful benders in the world?!" I cried indignantly, I couldn't be that weak! I was supposed to be _one_ of the strongest, and I was supposed to _become_ the strongest. Right?

"Well it's mainly because you telegraph the shit out of your attacks. Not only that but you stick pretty strictly to your stances and katas. On top of that you barely m/oved an inch when we fought. You just stood in one spot and threw shit at me with your magic. Hell, even Mary, who fights with her magic like you, is less stiff then you. She's not afraid to move around." She began

"I mean, at first I actually gave you too much credit, that's way I lunged so far to dodge your attacks, I thought that I had to. However, once I got a better handle on your actual abilities I figured out that didn't need to try _nearly_ as hard as I had been." She said, explaining her change in strategy.

"What do mean when you say I telegraph my attacks?" I questioned, on the one hand I could see what she was talking about when she criticized the way I fought, but at the same time I couldn't understand half of what she was talking about with her odd phrases and words.

"I don't really know how to explain it. I guess the best way to explain it is that I can tell what you're doing by looking at your body. By doing that I can tell what you're about to do seconds before you do it, and for a fighter like me that's an eternity." Sarah explained thoughtfully

"Really?" I asked, never having heard a criticism like that.

"Yeah, I can tell you have a lot of power, but that means very little if you scream what you're doing at them before you do it. When you do that any idiot with talent or training can figure out how to counter you." She finishes.

"Yeah, now that you explain it makes a lot of sense why I wasn't able to hit you, you could see each one coming from a mile away right?"

"Yup, but don't worry, we'll work on it." She says, putting her hand on my shoulder in a re-assuring gesture. But then she frowned and asked, "But why do you move so much to use your magic? I can tell you have a lot of power, you shouldn't need to move your whole body just to toss a rock."

"But that's how I was taught to bend. Bending uses the body to control the elements, if I don't use my body I don't bend as powerfully." I said frowning

"That sounds like bullshit." She said skeptically

"What?!" I cried indignantly, again.

"Mary, explain." She called to her sister.

Mary sighed in response before saying, "very well, Korra, magic doesn't start in the body, its root is in the soul and is directed by the mind, now using one's body one can assist with the control and direction of magic, giving the illusion that it requires the body to use. But magic doesn't actually require the body to move in order to cast it. For those less skilled in magic it might be necessary to use their body as a conduit or focus, but as one gets more skilled and more powerful the less exaggerated and grand the movements have to be to control large amounts of magic. For instance." Mary explained before moving to demonstrate.

She moved her right hand up, gesturing towards the workout equipment that we had shoved into the corner of the room. Suddenly they all lifted up off the floor, lifted by their mostly metal components. With just a few movements of her wrist, hand, and fingers all the equipment was levitated back into its place on the floor in a slow and very controlled fashion, expressing the use of a large amount of metal bending with very limited movement, I mean she didn't even move her arm at all.

I was stunned, what she had just done was something that I had only heard of the greatest of masters doing, I had heard of one earth bending master, Bumi, who could bend with just his face. But all of these masters were old, gaining power and experience through decades of refining their bending prowess, and Mary was just 22 years old and she was already the greatest earth bending master I had ever seen. It made me wonder if Toph and the Iron Dragon were this good at this age, I had heard that they were considered the greatest earth benders of their time, although really the Iron Dragon wasn't from here and he didn't stay here, he just visited so it's arguable if he should count. Frankly it was humbling, I had passed my earth bending mastery, but seeing this made me realize that I was barely competent at earth bending, I mean I couldn't even metal bend.

Once I picked my jaw up from the floor I asked Sarah, "Can you do this too?"

She frowned and scrunched up her face, "Was that really that amazing? It was kind of basic metal magic."

"That was just, wow. I've never seen anything like that." I said breathlessly before turning to Mary and asking, "Can you please teach me to do that?"

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow in surprise before giving me an answer.

"Only if you are willing to do everything it takes, even if it hurts, even if it makes you bleed, even if it puts you outside of you comfort zone." She said in calm, serious, and icy voice, it sent shivers down my spine and fear in my heart, but I had already made up my mind.

I gulped, looked her straight in the eyes, steeled my will and said, "Yes, whatever it takes."

She nodded, Sarah looked slightly nervous, but somewhat proud, like she was glad I was doing this but she worried for my health.

"Very well." She said simply in that icy tone.

"Don't kill her" Sarah instructed her sister nervously.

"Don't worry, she'll live." She said coldly, before whispering, "Barely."

And with that I became her student, I felt thrilled, I would learn under the greatest bender I had ever met, except maybe Katara and Zuko, but they were old and Mary had many years left ahead of her, I was pretty sure that in a fight Mary would win.

Then Mary surprised me.

While looking at me, without making even the slightest movement, the slightest twitch, she picked up one of the metal weight disks with her bending and flung it at my face. She stopped it an inch from my face, and I wasn't able to do anything as it came flying at me. My breath hitched in my throat as I realized that if she hadn't stopped it Mary would have probably killed me with that, and unlike me she gave absolutely no sign that she was about to attack.

 _Oh, so this is what they meant._ I thought fearfully, not noticing that she had sent another metal disk flying at my legs from behind.

As it slammed into my ankles it swept out my legs from beneath me, causing me to fall to floor without any hope of recovery, once again without any warning. I felt my head slam against the cold hard rock floor, dazing me as stars exploded into my vision, and my legs felt a dull pain throb in them, telling me that I would have a large bruise on them later as well.

She walked up to me and stood above my dazed head, looking down at me. She offered no hand, only saying, "And here beginth the lesson." Before walking off back upstairs.

Sarah stayed behind to help me up, giving me a concerned look before saying, "I hope you know that that is probably the lightest beating you will ever receive from her."

I chuckled grimly, now realizing what I had gotten myself into, but I had already promised to do whatever it took to learn. I would become the greatest avatar I could, and that meant I had to become stronger. Right?

* * *

 _A/n: Short chap, I know, but it was a good stopping point._

 _In case you're wondering how Korra's going to learn Air bending when she's not with Tenzin on Air Temple Island..._

 _..._

 _She's...not_

 _At least, not right now._

 _Later, yeah, she will_

 _But right now?_

 _Right_ _now she's going to be learning from Mary_

 _Also, for those complaining about how Sarah kicked Korra's ass without trying, well sorry but the reason's pretty simple_

 _Korra, while good, just isn't on Sarah's level_

 _Then again, not many will be._

 _Unlike Korra, Sarah's basically reached the peak of her development in this story as a fighter._

 _Depending on the fight she'll try harder, thus appearing to get stronger, but she'll just be developing as a person, not as a fighter._

 _Korra, on the other hand, will be doing both._

 _Think about it, despite Korra's "Skill" she never really did anything too fancy or powerful._

 _Unless she was fighting basic grunts, Korra had to struggle to win in a fight_

 _If_ _she won_

 _So despite being more of a warrior than Aang, I haven't actually seen anything that tells me that she was a significantly better fighter than him, at least in the first season for her._

 _Then again I could be terribly off on that front._

 _In any case, don't worry._

 _Mary, and to a lesser degree Sarah, will be teaching Korra what she needs on order to get stronger._

 _A way to explain this, in video game terms, is that Sarah and Mary are already at the level cap, which we'll say is 50 for now._

 _Korra's like a level 10, so nowhere close to them_

 _That being said, she'll mostly be fighting people who are only level 20 at most in this part_

 _And Sarah and Mary will be helping her reach that level_

 _That being said, don't expect Sarah and Mary to go around curb stomping everything._

 _Mary's rather apathetic towards helping people and Sarah loves a challenge, not a slaughter._

 _Besides, who says all the problems can be solved by the brutal application of force?_

 _In addition, they might even encounter things to much for them to handle_

 _Then again, I could be explaining this whole thing wrong_

 _But yeah, Mary's lessons are going to be taking the place of Tenzin's lessons, mainly 'cause it just worked out that way._

 _When I first thought up this story, they were all going to be stay on Air Temple Island_

 _But after I thought and wrote about it, I realized that that didn't make a lot of sense._

 _Right now, the girls are on the run from the White Lotus, so why would they go to Tenzin?_

 _I pointed that out last chapter, but this is the result of it._

 _But that's about it, bye._


	6. Scene 6: Night School

Scene 6, Chap 6

 **Korra pov**

It had been several days since Mary started training me in metal bending, and just how to improve my bending in general. It was a wonder how she was able to do so much at the same time, she had her consulting thing with the police, she would work at the Golden Vine, she was reading up and learning more about or world, and she was training me, all the while she was searching for any clues for how to get back to her world.

That being said, her method for teaching was quite honestly the most brutal I had ever encountered. She hadn't even started actually teaching, instead she spent the first days "testing".

"Testing", by the way, was one of the most infuriating things I've ever encountered.

* * *

 **Earlier**

"So you just want me to attack you?" I asked hesitantly, not at all sure about this idea of hers.

"Yes." Mary confirmed.

"And you won't attack back or anything?" I asked again, still not seeing the trick in all this.

"Not unless you are incapable of landing a hit after five minutes." She explained simply.

I narrowed my eyes at her in response, still not seeing the trick. This sounded like it was far too much in my favor, that or she was _seriously_ underestimating me. I mean, I can't imagine why Mary would just let me wail on her without retaliation for five whole minutes.

In combat, five minutes is an eternity. I can't imagine why she would give me such an enormous opening.

Is it a trap?

Does she think that lowly of me?

Does she think she can take it?

I don't know, and at this point, I'm starting to not care. If Mary wants to underestimate me, than that's a mistake she'll come to sorely regret. I'll show her why you should never underestimate me.

"Okay, lets do this." I confidently, eager to get this beat-down on the way.

We were downstairs in the oddly large training room, which I had actually increased in size with my earth bending. We also vented the room properly so fire bending won't turn it into a stone oven nearly as fast. In addition to that we lowered the floor a bit to make the whole room feel less cramped. All in all the room had about 100 square meters of floor space with about 7 meters from floor ceiling.

It was actually Sarah and Mary's idea to do this, and they actually had plans to expand. Something about underground bases being the shit or something. Apparently their old house had been the size of a mansion, except it was built into a mountain, and even had lava flowing through it to act a both heating and light for some areas. Or, at least, that's how Sarah explained it.

And, well, Sarah's not the best at explaining things.

We didn't have lava or anything flowing through the house, but since I was a water bender, and being from the water tribes, I loved water. So, instead we put in a small creek that wound it's way through the house, flowing throughout the place, branching off into different rooms and such before reforming again farther down. It was an impressive feat of architectural engineering, and Mary planned the whole thing. Apparently she's got the head for this sort of thing. Down in the training room the tiny river split up again after winding around our staircase. Half went to one side of the room, the other went to the opposite side.

Anyways, we got into position to begin the duel, "testing session" as Mary keeps putting it. We stood about 20 meters apart from each other. I got into strong, reliable water bending stance. As much as I love fire bending, I'd prefer not t burn Mary alive. The reason I used on Sarah is because she already expressed, _multiple times_ , how she doesn't really mind being set on fire.

In any case, I have't fought Mary, nor have I really seen her fight. I mean, she _did_ beat me up with weights that one time, but that wasn't really a fight so much as it was an exhibition. It _did_ show me that Mary fights much differently than her sister, who tends to forgo bending and rely on her impressive physical capabilities. Instead, Mary seems to really on her bending much more in a fight.

At least, that's all I got from all of the one times I've seen her beat me up.

So, you know, reliable Intel.

So, while I get into a good water bending stance, Mary...

Mary just stands there, doing nothing.

In fact, looking at her, I realize she's not really paying attention to me. She doesn't even look like she's looking at me, more so looking past me with her cold, bored, and indifferent gaze.

That's the moment I realize she really _is_ underestimating me. She's not taking this seriously at all. She doesn't consider me a threat in the least, and it's infuriating. She's looking down on me like I'm some child she decided to humor with a little spar to make me shut up about it. And that...

That is unforgivable.

While she's distracted thinking about...something I strike.

I send a high powered blast of ice cold water from the stream behind me at her head in an effort to freeze it, giving me a quick victory. she doesn't even move in reaction to me attack.

Instead, she looks ahead, her eyes suddenly refocusing, her frosted gazed locking onto my eyes and I can only see a hint of emotion on her otherwise placid face. I'm not sure what it, but I can only assume it's surprise from my attack.

 _Well that's what you get for underestimating me_ I think in response as I continue to guide the water towards her face.

She then raises her open palm out in front of her, as if that will be enough to block. My blast of water continues to fly forward towards it's target before it finally impacts and explodes, then instantly freezes in place.

But...

Something is wrong...

It feels like it...hit to early?

Plus it's expanded far too much, it hasn't wrapped around her head, instead it's exploded across her entire body, at least that's what it looks like. On top of all of that, when it hit there was a faint, dull, and deep, ringing sound, like the sound of a large bell or gong being struck.

Suddenly a grinding sound comes from the chunk of ice where Mary stood. The ice starts to crack and shake, pieces brake and fall off. Then a large central portion of it breaks of from the ground and rises into the air. There the grinding sound increases, increasing the speed at which the ice falls apart, and is followed by a humming sound that gets louder and louder. The whole chunk of ice starts to rotate faster and faster, spinning in the air flinging ice away left and right.

Finally, it stops.

It falls silent and stops spinning. There is no ice on it left, it has shed is frozen shell. In it's place is a large round shield floating in the air. It surface is silvery and covered in smooth ridges and bumps in a circular pattern across it's surface. It stands there, resolute and unyielding. Then, once again, it starts to rotate. The bumps and ridges circle across it's surface, rotating in different directions like some kind of drill. Slowly the shield begins to rotate in the air around something, revealing Mary standing behind it with her hands at her sides again.

She looks just the same as she did before, bored, dispassionate, and unimpressed.

"Cute." She comments simply as she lets her shield lazily rotate around her without so much a moving a finger.

For a moment, I'm surprised by this. I'f never seen bending used like that, or at least someone using such an advanced technique in such a lazy way. She doesn't even look like she's trying!

At the same time, her comment at my attempt to attack her being "cute" infuriates me. Once again she's dismissing me. Me! I'm the avatar! I'm supposed to be one of the most powerful benders in the whole world. Even if I know it's not as true as I thought, I still have my pride dammit! Even when I fought Sarah, who honestly wiped the floor with me without breaking a sweat, she still took me seriously.

But Mary?

She's acting like this is some annoying, trivial, chore for her.

So I cry out in rage, stomp down on the ground and raise three blocks from the floor with my earth bending. I throw my fists forward in three viscous punches, causing the waist high blocks to fly towards her at incredible speeds. If any one of them hit her directly it'd probably kill her, if not seriously wound her, but I don't care. She's insulted me, wounded my pride by dismissing me, and my pride won't stand that. So I'll show her "cute".

The blocks fly forward, each coming at a slightly different time and angle, to try and get her when she dodges like her sister would.

But

She never does.

Instead her shield fly in front of her, the different sections of the shield rotating faster and faster, creating that humming sound I heard earlier. Then the first block crashes into the shield causing that ringing sound to echo through the chamber once again, and for just a moment, they're at a stalemate. Each trying to overcome the other. Then, it's over just as soon as it started. The front of the block cracks and begins to crumble before the cracks fly out to every end of the block. Finally it explodes and falls to pieces, the shield looking completely unaffected.

The shield flies to intercept the other two blocks at the optimum angle. The each crash into it, causing more dull ringing and the shield is struck, and each crumbles into pieces. In the aftermath the shield just hangs in the air, surrounded by a cloud of dust, but completely intact, not even a scratch on it.

In frustration at being unable to do anything I send everything I can at the shield.

I throw fire, water, and earth at. I shoot long streams of fire, dozens of small bits of rocks, and giant icicles at it. Each one crashed and breaks on the shield like waves on the shore. And the shield just floats there like some indomitable monolith, unaffected by everything. Each time a new attack lands, it creates another sounding of the iron drum.

After a while I start to lose my energy. Even if I am the avatar, I can't just bend forever. Bending takes a lot of energy, and pushing myself to the limit of what I can do, hurling the strongest attacks I can for five minutes straight is exhausting.

So, in a moment of peace, a lull in the battle, where I take time to think about what else I can do and catch my breathe, Mary strikes.

The silver shield begins to melt and change. growing longer and more narrow. Slowly the shield becomes a spear, and it is aimed straight for me. Mary brings her right hand down by her left hip. In preparation for what I can see coming I summon up a large wave of water to swirl around me and freeze, creating a wall of ice to try and defend myself. Then, in a flash, she throws her right hand out diagonally up into the air to her right, snapping her fingers in process.

The snap echos loudly through the room, sounding the end of the "testing session".

And just like that the spear is sent flying towards my so fast I can only see the vaguest form of a silver blur hurtle towards me. It flies through my 15 cm thick ice wall like it's not even there, shattering it without mercy, and continuing forward unimpeded. Then it hits me straight in the chest.

Only...

...It doesn't act...normal.

If it did, it would have simply ran my through, impaling me and leaving me dead. Instead, the second it touches my skin, it begins to act like a liquid. Expanding and flowing around me. The silvery liquid flows around my arms and chest, and then I can feel it start to gather once more on the other side of me, reforming into a spear again. Finally, when about half the spear has reformed on the other side, it hardens back into a solid.

Once it starts acting like a solid again, it starts to act on me again. it maintains the momentum it had when she threw it. It sends me flying back, compressing and crushing my chest, before it implants itself into the wall behind me. I can feel dull and sharp pains in my chest, telltale signs of bruised and even broken ribs. It hurts so bad, and I'm fighting to stay conscious, but the black spots in my vision and the dull pain throughout my body tempt me to just let go.

Mary walks up to slowly, each step in her silver boots clacking loudly against the stone ground. Finally she reaches me and says, "I'm not impressed.", while gazing down on me with her cold bronze eyes. The look down on me, judge me, and find me wanting. But there's something else in there. Something else I can't identify.

"But. You have potential. Don't worry. By the time I'm done with you, you'll either be one of the greatest warriors on the planet...or dead." She says simply.

And with that I finally succumb to darkness

* * *

So that's how Mary's "Testing Sessions" went. each time her shield would remain impenetrable. Nothing could get past it. Even if I sent attacks from different directions at the same time she would just split the shield up into smaller ones and block them all.

Probably the most infuriating part about it was the whole time she barely moved a muscle. She never moved from her spot, she rarely ever moved her hands, and she never looked like she even tried.

And then there was her spear. Nothing I tried could block it. No matter what I did, it would always penetrate through any defense and plant me to the wall.

All in all, it really helped firmly cement the fact that I wasn't just not on her level, I wasn't even in her city. But at the same time, I couldn't give up. I couldn't get discouraged. I might not ever beat her, at least not soon, but I was determined to get to at least move from her spot. To get her break a sweat. To get her to _something_!

I wanted her to actually have to work for her victory, to actually have to try, but nothing I did seemed to be good enough.

Not only that, but the worried looks the hospital staff gave me after I would come in nearly every day with almost the same injuries was somewhat disconcerting.

Over all I found it to be incredibly frustrating. I asked her to teach me metal bending, and instead all she did was have me beat my head against a wall before kicking my butt in one move. I felt like I was getting nowhere but paying dearly for it, and it was incredibly frustrating.

So I confronted her about it one day during practice. It went… _well_.

When I walked into the room I see Mary leaning against the wall reading a book in the dim light of the training room. I walked up and confront her.

"Why won't you teach me anything?! All you do is make me pound against your relentless shield and wait for you to spear me into a wall every day! I'm not learning anything!" I yelled at her that fateful day.

"Well considering we've been doing this for over a week and you have yet to even _try_ and dodge the spear you _know_ is coming, I'm starting wonder whether or not you're even capable of learning." Mary counters without even looking up from her book. Her tone is one of boredom as she casually insults me by pointing out the shortcomings of my tactics while facing her. The fact that my outburst of rage isn't even enough to warrant her looking at me fills me with even more rage

"Shut up! Just teach me metal bending already! That's what I'm here for." I demanded

"Or what? You'll quit? You do realize that I'm teaching you as a _favor_ to  you. I don't have to do this, in fact it's more of an inconvenience for me than anything else. Remember, you asked for this and I warned you that it wouldn't be a fun instructional lesson." She counters pointedly with a bored tone while still refusing to even glance at me, as if I was just being a mild inconvenience to her.

Her responses made me furious, but they provided me nothing to use against her, I was really just angry because she was right, I was just getting frustrated that I wasn't getting this as easily as everything else, I foolishly thought that I would be able to learn metal bending just as easily as I learned all my other forms of bending, and I was foolish to believe that Mary would just tell me the secrets to metal bending immediately. But of course I was too bull-headed, as Sarah called, to accept this, so instead I blamed Mary for being a terrible teacher and just got mad at her. In my rage I just walked out on her, storming out of the training room back upstairs where I ran into Sarah.

"Hey, you okay?" She looked at me with a concerned face, the rage easily apparent on my face.

During the day, when the two of us weren't looking for work and exploring the city, Sarah and I would train, unlike her sister Sarah was a lot nicer, she never really taught me metal bending either, but she didn't use it either. Instead she taught me how to fight up close and personal.

"No." I force out through my teeth, I'm still furious at how I was simply an "inconvenience" for her.

"Your sister is just, ARGH!" I grunt in frustration, I can't understand how someone so coldhearted and mean can be the twin sister of someone so kindhearted and nice as Sarah.

Sarah looked at me with a sympathetic look, she knew what I was talking about, which made sense considering she had lived with her for her entire life.

"Yeah, I think I can get why you're so mad at her, she is a kind of a stone cold bitch." Sarah admitted. "Let me guess, she's not teaching you to how to use metal magic as fast as you want right?"

"Yeah! I can't believe her, that's the whole reason I asked her to teach me, and when I told her to do it she called me an 'inconvenience'. I can't believe her!" I vented to Sarah

"That sounds like good 'ole Mary all right." Sarah said nodding her head

"Can't you just teach me?" I pleaded, "You can both bend metal just as easily right? You can teach me instead of Mary."

"I doubt it, unlike Mary I wouldn't really know what to teach." She reluctantly admitted rubbing the back of her head with her hand.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, not understanding how that made any sense.

"Well for me there's nothing to metal magic, I just reach out and grab onto the metal, I simply control it with my influence and go from there. It's as simple as using my arms, there's almost no difference. I wouldn't know where to begin."

"And Mary would?" I reply skeptically. I'm not entirely convinced that Sarah couldn't teach me anything, but _she_ seems to be, which is good enough for me.

"Yeah, unlike me she uses her magic a lot, but not only that but she also studies it a lot, experiments with it, delves into the limits of what she can and can't do with her magic. So unlike me she would have a lot of insight into her magic, and would likely be able to help you figure out how to do it since you can't do it naturally." Sarah explained

I sighed in resignation, realizing that I would have to have her as my teacher, but that didn't mean I wasn't any less furious at her.

"Fine, but I don't have to like it, and right now I'm way too mad to go back down there with her." I say, stubbornly resolving to have my rage for as long as I can.

"Well, that gives me an idea, something to cheer you up." Sarah says with a conspiring smile, like she knew we were about to do something we really shouldn't.

"What?" I say cautiously, worried about what kind of trouble we would be getting ourselves into this time.

"You know how you're all into this Pro-bending shit? Well how about we pay them a visit?" She says with that evil grin of her, one look at that and I know there's a catch.

"What's the catch?"

"I don't have tickets, so we'll be there illegally. But that just makes it more exciting!" Sarah says, looking like a mad daredevil, and I knew that she would be dragging me along with her to do this. I also knew that I was in no way against this, and I had actually planned on doing something similar at some point.

"I think I can live with that." I say, sharing her conspiring smile.

* * *

 **Sarah pov**

So we get to the Pro-bending arena at night and sneak inside easily enough, but neither of us really know where we're going so we end up just wondering around looking for the stands. As we're walking through the halls of the stadium I can hear the dull roar of the crowds around us, I can hear the muffled sounds of what could be an announcer talking through a megaphone or something. The air is thick and humid, although I'm not sure why, but I can see pipes running around the ceiling leading from one place to another.

As we are walking up to a three-point intersection I can feel two people approaching the corner, about to turn it and probably spot us. Thinking quickly I pull Korra and I into a broom closet to hide us as they walk by. Knowing that she would just yell at me in surprise of my actions I also put my hand over her mouth, clamping it shut. When she turns to glare at me I put my finger over my mouth to silently tell her to be silent. She slowly nods in confirmation, which prompts me to remove my hand.

A second later I can hear the footsteps of the first individual approaching us, I can tell that Korra can too because I can feel how hard her heart is beating in her chest. Now that she realizes why I did what I did she's getting all tense from fear of being discovered. Obviously she's new to the whole stealth thing. Me, not so much, so unlike her I'm not getting all tense with fear and apprehension. Well not until after the first guy passes us by.

After that Korra breathes a sigh of relief, and I think to myself, _Alright, just one more guy and we're home free, just got to let this other guy pass and we can find our way to the stands._

Korra, on the other hand, had other ideas.

Instead of waiting in the closet with me she opens the door and takes a step outside, which is terrible because the other guy is rounding the corner of the intersection, and he will definitely see us. As more of a kneejerk reaction I try to pull Korra back into the closet by grabbing onto her hand and pulling. Korra resists and turns to glare at me with a look saying, _what are you doing Sarah?! The cost is clear, we can go outside. Let me go!_

I return this glare with one with twice the intensity saying, _what the fuck are you doing?! Why are you going outside?! There's someone else coming dipshit!_ Then I freeze because I can see that we have, in fact, been discovered.

"Hello." A young male voice says somewhat sheepishly from behind Korra, looking at us with a flustered expression.

Korra spins around, looking back out into the hall way where she had just opened the door to. Standing in front of us is an Asian boy about our age with a stocky build, slightly shorter than me, taller than Korra, dark hair, wearing what resembles lightweight red armor, and green eyes staring right back at me. I notice that he has a slightly embarrassed look on his face, like he accidentally walked in on something he really shouldn't have.

"Sorry for interrupting…whatever it was that you were doing in the closet." He admits sheepishly, obviously very embarrassed and flustered about whatever he thinks he interrupted, his eyes darting around in a desperate attempt not to stare at us.

At that moment I realize what this situation looks like, and now it's my turn to look flustered and embarrassed. To him it probably looks like Korra was leading me out of a closet after a moment of passion between us. What with our slightly ruffled clothes from our less-than smooth entrance to the building, my hand around Korra's, and us coming out of a closet, it's very easy to see how he could see that.

After I realize what he probably thinks he saw I can't look at Korra, I direct my eyes to anything and everything that isn't her or the boy. I can't even think about saying something in denial and blush furiously. Fortunately, due to my dark complexion it's very hard to see my blush, my skin just turns an even darker shade of dark brown, and unless you know what you're looking for it's almost impossible to notice.

 _Thanks mom and dad_. I think, silently thanking them for giving me my skin tone.

Fortunately Korra doesn't have her own head up her ass in embarrassment, and she's able to defend us. "Oh, uh, no. You didn't interrupt anything."

"Right Sarah?" She says, turning back to me, snapping me out of my stupor

I shake my head, shaking my less than noble thoughts out of my head, "Yeah you're right, _Mika_." I respond, using the fake name we came up with to use for her a while ago, using the name Mika would help hide her from the White Lotus and help keep anyone else from figuring out that she was the avatar.

"Oh, right. Yeah, my name's Mika." She say, realizing where I was going with this.

"And I guess yours is Sarah?" He asked, looking towards me

"Yup" I respond

"Well my name's Bolin." The boy said

"Well it's nice to meet you Bolin." Korra replies

"So…you weren't doing…stuff in there?" He asked, once again bringing up the closet, as well as a collection of dirty thoughts into my head, causing me to look away and try to control them.

"Umm, I don't know what 'stuff' you're talking about but we were just hiding from the last guy that walked past here." Korra answered, but I realize too late that she might have tipped him off to why we were hiding

"Wait, why we you hiding from someone?" he asked

"Umm…" She says while I continue to drown my dirty mind under thoughts of blood and violence.

 _Blood and guts, blood and guts, broken bones and broken homes, broken bones and broken homes. Wet squishy organs and their_ _succulent juices...FUCK!_

"You guys snuck in without tickets didn't you?" He said, realizing the truth with an excited gasp.

"What, nooo." Korra tried to defend us, poorly I might add

"Pft, no, we're totally here legitimately" I say, also trying to defend us, and also doing poorly at it.

"Oh don't worry about it, I don't care that you snuck in, people do it all the time, well not _all_ the time, that would be bad for business, but you know, enough." Bolin said, trying to tell us he was cool with it with a dismissive wave of his hand, but also rambling.

At that both Korra and I shared a sigh of relief.

"But hey, since you're here, what do say to seeing the match from the best seats in the house?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows in an innocently suggestive manner.

"Oh wait!" I exclaimed, suddenly connecting the dots and realizing that this was _the_ Bolin, not just some random shmuck. "You're Bolin of the Fire Ferrets right?"

"Aw, you got me, I was hoping to do this big whole reveal thing in the locker room" He sighed, "It was going to be so cool, Mako was gonna be there, and Hasook, and there would be the view of the platform." He starts to ramble before being interrupted by Korra.

"Oh! _You're_ Bolin of the Fire Ferrets?! I've heard your games on the radio!" Korra says excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome." He says, doing an exaggerated arm flex in attempt to show off, but it comes out more goofy then obnoxious so I decide not to punch him in the face for his trouble. "But how about we go check out the seats I was talking about?" He suggests.

So we walk over to the ready room and find the "seats" he was talking about, which was kind of a lie because there were no seats to sit in, but there was a great view of the arena.

As we're taking in the scene I sense another person coming up from behind us, I turn around coming face to face with an Asian boy resembling Bolin, but taller, leaner, with amber colored eyes, and older looking, he looks closer to my age than Korra's. He's also wearing the lightweight and flexible red armor that Bolin is.

"Bolin." The guy calls out to what I guess is his brother, which would make this guy…

"Yeah Mako." Bolin responds, turning and walking up to his brother.

"What have I told you about letting your crazy fangirls in here, get them out of here." He sternly commands but quietly, I doubt Korra could hear him, I doubt most people could.

"Aw come on Mako, I kind of promised them they could stay." He starts out pleading his case with an apologetic smile, "Plus I got a good feeling about them, there's something special about them, I know it!"

 _Oh you have_ _no_ _idea how right you are Bolin._ I think to myself before Korra says.

"Mako! Wow, I heard you playing on the radio too! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She says excitedly, proving herself to be every bit the fangirl Mako thinks she is.

I can't help but smack myself in the forehead from her fangirling.

 _Goddammit_ _Korra._

"Yeah, I'm not really a fan, I mean I hear your good but I'm not really into Pro-bending." I admit, honestly I think the whole game is stupid, all you do is throw shit at each other in a controlled fashion. It's not as passionate as a real fight, a real brawl. The teams don't fight till they can't fight no more, they fight till one team is pushed out of the ring. I've already explained this to Korra, who still doesn't quite understand what I mean. I wish I could introduce her to boxing, or MMA fights, or the Arena matches, or ,hell, even wrestling.

"But it's still nice to meet you." I add, not wanting to be rude and just call out the sport they play

Bolin is slightly surprised by what I say, and looks like he's about to say something when he's cut off by his brother.

"Come on Bolin, we're up." Mako say, says calling for his brother to get ready for the match, and completely ignoring us and walking off.

"Well fuck you too asshole." I say quietly enough for just Korra and Bolin to hear me.

"Did I do something wrong?" Korra asks, concerned because of Mako's response to her.

"No you didn't, Mako on the other hand," Bolin starts, shaking his head at his brother's actions before looking back at Korra to try and make her feel better while covering for his brother. "I'm sorry for that, Mako just gets real…focused before a match."

"But I gotta go, wish me luck guys, not that I'll need it." He adds confidently

"Good luck!" Korra say excitedly, urging him on.

"Yeah, break their fucking legs!" I call out to him

"…Okay?" He responds unsure how to respond to my particularly violent comment before walking out to follow his brother into the arena.

In the next couple of minutes we behold a spectacle of magic being slung left and right at a red and blue side, it's an …interesting exchange of elements. While I haven't really seen too much like Pro-bending, I much prefer the magic arena's back home where two people would fight until one was unconscious, dead, or the time ran out. Although people very rarely died, like maybe once or twice every couple of years. Unlike Pro-bending, however, there were no rules or restrictions other than don't destroy the arena or kill the spectators, it was a true test of one's abilities, the objective was to win by putting your opponent out of the fight. It was a pure crucible of battle, no rules or referees to interfere, just two fighters and there wills fighting it out to see who will be the one to stand at the end of the day. It was wonderful. Unfortunately I can't do nearly half that shit with Korra yet, she's too… squishy? I want to say? I don't really know the best way to describe it other than I would probably break her in half if I tried to fight her seriously.

To summarize, while watching the Pro-bending match was interesting and enthralling at points, nobody was getting thrown around by water tentacles, no massive fireball explosions were happening, no massive slabs of earth were thrown, no lightning arcing around, no barrages of metal projectiles, no giant spears of ice, and no tornados. In short, the match was very tame compared to what I was used to. It reminded me of one of the oddities I've learned about this world. Magic is more common among humans in this world, a _lot_ more common. Here about one in four to ten people is a mage, back home it's more like one in every 500,000, and even among the small number of human mages most couldn't do control magic. So magic here is a lot more common, but less powerful among humans, at least from what I can see so far, which actually isn't much. Then again, I hadn't really run into too many normal human control mages back home, so maybe I'm wrong.

Soon the match was over, and Korra was jumping up and down in excitement, I was just happy that they won. As I had watched the match I noticed that while Bolin and Mako seemed to work well together, their water mage was kinda…well, shit. It's a wonder they didn't lose with his piss-poor performance.

"Yeah baby, just one more win and we're in the tournament!" Bolin said excitedly

"So what do you think Mika? Bolin's got some moves huh?" He asked her, still exuding goof swagger, not the swagger of a total dickbag. It's why he didn't get a punch in the nuts for his trouble, he was more of a lovable idiot than dickbasket.

"What did I think? What did I think?" She starts, grabbing Bolin's collar, bringing him close before shouting, "That was amazing!"

After pushing him back away he looks at me and say, while wiggling his brow suggestively, "So what did you think Sarah? Pretty good right?"

"Eh, not really." I said honestly

"What? Come on we were awesome out there." He said looking crestfallen after having disappointed him.

"I mean, Mika thought we were awesome!" He tries to defend while gesturing towards Korra.

"Don't get me wrong, it was cool, but it wasn't brutal, savage, or cunning enough for me. I mean look at you guys! Nobody's bleeding and nothing exploded!" I explained.

"Well... Mako threw fireballs around."

"Is anyone on fire?"

"…no."

"Then it's not good enough." I said, standing my ground on my position. "I'll be interested when there's a match where someone actually gets hurt."

"Is she always like this?" He asks Korra, looking at her while pointing at me.

"Um…kind of? It depends. She really likes to punch stuff in the…well the everywhere really." She explains.

Just then we're interrupted by Mako and Hasook coming into the room, with Mako angrily yelling at Hasook, calling him out on his shit and whatnot.

"You did more harm than good out there! You almost cost us the match!" Mako criticizes the water mage

"We won didn't we?" Hasook responds dismissively, like it wasn't a big deal, or his problem.

"Barely!"

"Whatever" Hasook responds, leaving.

"That ungrateful, useless…!" Mako starts to vent before Korra interrupts with her fangirling.

"You were incredible out there! Especially you Mako!" She says, damn near worshiping him.

"Oh, you're still here?" He responds, once again being rude.

"Oh, you're still an asshole?" I respond to him, not happy with how rude he's being to Korra. Although now that I think about it mom and dad would act like this when faced with people who walked up to them practically worshiping the ground they walked on, so I guess I can see why he was so dismissive.

"What's your problem?" He angrily calls back,

"What's your problem?" I excellently countered, stepping up to him as we lock eyes, glaring at each other, our tempers flaring.

"Uh, guys?" Bolin interrupts in an attempt to keep a fight from breaking out.

I decide getting into a fight right now isn't worth the cost, besides, Bolin seems pretty nice, I wouldn't want to put his brother in the hospital. So turn my head and step away and he does the same in a silent agreement. With our brawl put on hold Korra decide to chirp in and ask Bolin something.

"Hey Bolin, I've been immersed in bending my entire life but I've never seen bending like that, it was like a totally new style!" She tells him excitedly.

I've noticed that she really cares about magic…and not much else. It's kind of adorable really, all I really need to grab her attention is mention that magic is involved and she'll just jump onboard. Then again, considering for almost her entire life that was all that was taught to her, it was all she knew, it's not too surprising. I hope she'll develop some other interests later on, it would be good for her to find new, different things to become interested in. It would be good for her to grow as a person and expand her interests. I hope to help her with that.

That being said…

"Mika, what are you talking about? Doesn't Mary do that sort of stuff all the time when she kicks your ass?" I ask her with a touch of teasing.

"What! No! She just throws stuff at me, these guys were flowing around the arena, always moving and dodging, but also keeping their attacks powerful." She explained, but also pouting a little because I reminded her of how badly Mary wipes the floor with her every day. "Besides, Mary's a jerk, I don't need her to show me anything, not if Bolin can show me a few pointers." She says suggestively to Bolin.

"Sure, why not, what are friends for?" He agrees

"Really Bolin? Come on." Mako complains as he takes off his gear.

"Just ignore him." He whispers before continuing at a normal volume. "Yeah! I could show you the basics, but I'm not sure how well my earth bending would translate to your water bending."

"Oh, well that's no problem, Sarah's actually an earth bender, you can teach her some stuff." Korra responds, surprising me.

 _Since when?_

"Oh, I'm sorry, no no! I didn't mean to assume! I just figured based on your appearance that you two were water tribe girls." He says apologetically not meaning to offend. He was unsuccessful.

"What the fuck is with everyone here?! Why does everyone keep thinking I'm from the water tribes?! What is this shit?! Haven't you guys ever seen a black person before?!" I respond indignantly, I was sick and tired of being confused as from the water tribe just because of my dark skin, it was like racism but worse! If they were going to be prejudiced then could they at least bother getting the right stereotype?

At that moment Bolin looked like a scared little mouse facing an angry bear, he was scared shitless, which at the time, I was totally okay with. Korra, less so.

"Hey, Sarah just calm down, it's not his fault, he probably _hasn't_ seen a black person before." She tells me, trying to placate me, and the truth was, she was right. For some reason or another this world didn't seem to have black people or white people, which was very weird for me since they were the two primary demographics I usually saw.

"What the hell's a black person?" Mako asked, proving Korra's point.

I took a breath and relaxed, I wasn't really mad, I was just a little frustrated. Honestly I just needed to beat the shit out of something, and soon, or I felt like I was going to explode.

"Soooooo… you wanna some pointers or not?" Bolin finally asked after a moment of awkward silence.

* * *

 _A/n: Update 11/30/15_

 _I changed what happened regarding Mary's "testing" of Korra_

 _Before it was just a basic description of what Mary did, now it's a whole scene._

 _Also some other stuffs_

 _Oh, and if this feels like it's going kind of slowly, than, well, sorry but that's how it's going to be_

 _This is the general pace of the story, but I try and balance that out by keeping the stuff that doesn't really change short, and adding a lot of changes to stuff I actually put in._

 _That being said, I try and keep the changes natural._

 _What I mean by that is that when I write a scene, it's going to start wiht how it should have been with cannon, but then I'm going to see how everything different would affect it, and make the necessary changes._

 _Like in this chapter_

 _Mary is totally the stone cold bitch that would piss Korra off in her method of training, and not give a shit if Korra decides to leave in frustration, which would anger Korra even more._

 _Sarah would then totally be the type of person to help her friend out by taking her to a place she's knows Korra will enjoy and have fun, in order to make her happy when she's angry._

 _That's how they got to the stadium and why that stayed the same._

 _Sarah would be better at sneaking then Korra, but Korra being Korra would still find a way to fuck it up in such a way that they still meet Bolin_

 _Then Korra would still her stuff with the boys, while Sarah, who isn't a fan of Pro-bending like Korra but a good enough friend to support her decisions, would be blunt and somewhat abrasive, but not try and keep Korra from ever coming back to the arena._

 _I try and make everything have a logical reason, and not be done just for shits and giggles_

 _I'll have a special section for that shit._


	7. Scene 7: Extra Curricular Activities

**Scene 7, Chap 7**

 **Extra-curricular activites**

 **Bolin pov**

These girls were weird, especially Sarah, but that was cool. They were both unlike any girl I had ever seen, both strong, energetic, and passionate. Although Mika was just kind of a cool, but weird, strong water tribe gal, Sarah was something…else. She had earlier described herself as a black person, and while I didn't really know what that was having never heard of it before, it was easy to see why she was one. She had the darkest skin I had ever seen, it was why I had first thought she was a water bender, but honestly her skin was far darker than even Mika's.

While Mika's was a nice caramel brown, Sarah's was a dark, chocolatey brown, almost black. Her hair was completely black, unlike Mika's dark brown hair, and it wasn't straight but very…thick? I'm not really sure the best way to describe it. It was thick, coarse, and straight and she had it slightly beyond shoulder length, having it tucked behind her ears in a loose ponytail and her bangs were formed by two groups of hair that hung from her head like four fangs. The two center "fangs" hung right above her eyebrows, keeping them out of her eyes, right beside those two were the other two "fangs", which hung to the side of her eyes, with the tips going to the side of her face, parallel to her eyes.

Anyways, soon we were in the training room, ready for me to give the two girls a few pointers about earth bending, although I'm not sure how much Sarah wanted or needed it, and I still wasn't sure how well my earth bending would translate to Mika's water bending, but if they thought it could help, why not.

"So first Sarah, why don't you show me what you got?" I asked Sarah.

She responded by raising her eyebrow skeptically and looking at the stack of stone disks. "Okay, if you say so."

She walked over to the stack, bent over and picked one up in her right hand, she felt it with both hands, testing the weight, the feel, the texture, and its sturdiness. Then she moved it back to her right hand, angled her body so her left side was facing the target, favoring her back, and she held her right hand out behind her slightly. Then, in a flash of movement, she threw the earth disk like Frisbee, spinning her body and flicking the disk forward at blinding speeds, all I could see was the start and end of her throwing form. Like an arrow the earth disk flew fast and true with a slight arc, its flight path curving into the target net where it finally crashed. It the net so hard that I could hear the net straining to stay together, stretching as the disk pulled it apart, and I could hear the metal supports holding the net in place straining against the force of the hit, struggling to prevent the net from falling. It was incredible.

I had never seen anyone ever put so much power and force into earth disk throw before, it made me scared at the prospect of being on the other end of that impact. It flew so fast that I probably wouldn't be able to dodge it, and any defense I put up in the ring would probably just crumple at her punishing blows. Getting hit with it would probably break bones and take me out of the match, even a glancing blow could become a serious injury. At first she threw me off by picking up the disk with her hands instead of bending it, but the power in her bending technique more than made up for how unorthodox it was. However, there was one problem with it though…

"…That was...Incredible! Amazing power! I've never seen anyone bend an earth disk that hard before! There's only one really problem with your…odd form." I said, telling her my thoughts, giving her pointers like I said. "In a real match you'd be a sitting turtle-duck."

"A what?" She interrupted, her face conveying the minor confusion she felt about hearing about this strange animal.

"A sitting turtle-duck." I repeated, not understanding the source of her confusion, before continuing, "You shouldn't be so flat footed. Stay light and on your toes until the moment when you need to dig in and strike. Then…" I explained, leading into a demonstration.

I demonstrated by strafing side to side quickly, staying light on my toes until I was ready to strike, then I stopped, took a solid stance, bent up two earth disk from the stack, and used a bending one-two punch on the net, sending a disk with each strike. "Pow-pow"

Mika was looking at what I did with her jaw hanging in shock and awe in what I had done, making me fill with pride. Sarah, on the other hand, didn't seem to be too impressed. Actually, I think she took it as a challenge.

"That's alright." She started, " _But_ anyone with half a brain could see that attack coming from a mile away and defend against it."

I smiled, challenge accepted, "Yeah, but your strike wasn't any better. Yeah, it hit so hard that actually defending against it would be hard, but anyone could see what you're doing and break your stance before you can strike, our even throw you out of the ring. That's why you have to stay mobile like me."

"So in the ring you have to decide between power and speed right? If you pick power then you will get your opponent, but they can get you too. If you pick speed then you'll have a harder time hitting your opponents, but they'll have harder time hitting you." Mika mused out loud, explaining the major dilemma of bending in the ring, or out of it even. Power versus speed, hitting you're opponent versus getting hit, offense versus defense. It was actually surprised me how insightful she could be.

"Yeah! Exactly! You got to find a nice balance between speed and power, Sarah, you put all your effort into power, that's great but it leaves you wide open, and if I tried to be too quick and nimble, staying too light on my feet then I wouldn't be able to hit my target, or hit it hard enough to matter." I further explained, congratulating Mika on getting the dilemma right away.

"Well…there's another way. A way around that problem." Sarah said, hand on her chin as she thought about her solution.

"There is?" Mika asked, genuinely curious, she couldn't really see what "other way" there was.

"Not that I know of. What are you getting at?" I asked, very curious as to what was going through this girl's mind, what was this solution?

"You trick them, you bypass their defenses while remaining nimble, that way they can't hit you, and you don't have to worry about them defending." Sarah explained.

Both me and Mika shared a look at each other that said, _what it she talking about?_ Before sending a questioning look at her.

"I don't think it works like that." Mika said, skeptical of Sarah's solution.

"Yeah, that's a lot easier said than done." I said, equally skeptical.

"Well actually the trick I have in mind should actually be a fairly common tactic for you guys to use, so I don't know why you don't. But since nobody uses it, nobody will see it coming, although once they do start to see it coming then that will just open up new problems for them, but that's whatever." Sarah said with growing excitement.

"So what is this 'trick' you had in mind?" I ask, my curiosity only growing as she went on.

"Well, as my dad says, 'I can show ya better'n I can tell ya'" Sarah says before going over to the stack of earth disks and picking up another one.

She gets walks into position, as far from the wall on the other side of the room as possible, before shifting on her feet. She then brakes into a small run, lunging to the side. While in mid-lunge, in mid-air, she throws the disk like a Frisbee, twisting her entire body, which is parallel to the ground, in the air to add power, but I notice that it's still slower than when she threw it before. Instead of slamming into the net again, it flies past, missing it by about two yards or more. At first I think she's failed miserably, thinking that she was just going to try and throw the disk while flying in the air, but then she continues her motions.

She places her left hand on the ground immediately after throwing the disk, stopping her twist. She then uses the momentum of the rest of her body trying to fly forward to swing her feet in front her and into the ground. At this point her entire body has twisted around, her left side is pointed at the disk, favoring her front side, leaving her pointed at an angle with respect to the disk. Without stopping she uses the momentum of swing her body around to continue her twist, turning her body counterclockwise again. As she turns she reaches out with her right hand, as if to grab the earth disk which is currently in flight towards the wall. As she turns her body to the left she quickly pulls in her right arm, as if she's yanking on a rope attached to the disk, pulling it in.

And that's exactly how the disk reacts.

Just a second before slamming into the wall the disk reacts to its master's movements, veering off its course with the wall, arcing to the left like Sarah is turning. It swings around changing its course and doing a full 180. Now it's flying at us with the same speed it was flying away from us, now spinning through the air in the reverse of its original path. It flies right into the back of the net, this time it does hit hard enough to tear a small hole in the net and rip the net from its metal supports. In fact, the net doesn't even slow it down. The stone disk just tears straight throuhg the net and whizes by all of our heads before slamming into the wall behind us. I turn to look at the impact point and am shocked to see that instead of breaking apart on impact like usual the disk has _embedded_ itself within the wall partially.

In short Sarah just did a flying boomerang-earth bending move on the net an earth disk, boomeranging it into the back of the net, breaking it, lodging said disk in the wall despite the net, and make all of our jaws slam into the floor. Even Mako, who was just watching silently in the corner, was shocked by what he had just seen.

Sarah, however, was surprised for a very different reason.

"Oh shit! I broke it!" She said with a fearful grimace, regretting she put so much force into her throw and wondering if she would have to pay for it. "Uh…do I have to pay for that?" She said, hesitantly pointing at the scene of carnage she created.

"…H-how…how did you do that?" Mako was able to force out, still stunned. He was the first to be able to put his mouth back together in working order.

"You mean the whole boomerang thing?" Sarah asked for clarification.

We all nodded our heads simultaneously.

"Well I don't see how it was really that hard, anyone who can use control magic should be able to do something like that, I just put a bunch of acrobatic flare on it." She explained

"Control magic?" I repeated, never having heard of control magic.

"She means bending." Mika answered, explaining for her friend

"Oh." I answer simply, my brain still trying to figure how exactly to process what we just saw.

"So you're saying that that boomerang trick wasn't anything special?" Mako asked skeptically

"Well kinda, yeah. I mean it's fancy but it's more common to put the object behind your opponent then throw it at them with magic, rather than boomerang it at them. Either that or just have the projectile home in on them." Sarah explained.

"Wait, can Mary do this?" Mika asked fearfully

"…...Has she not?" Sarah asked back slowly as she lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head, perplexed by the idea that Mary hadn't already used this technique in front of Mika

"No! Are you telling me that Mary will hit me with her spear thingy even if I dodge it?!" Mika cried out as she came to a depressing realization.

"Um…yeah, pretty much." Sarah replies honestly, "Didn't I already tell you you were fucked when you stared training with her? I'm pretty sure I gave you fair warning."

"I would still like to know how you did that." Mako said, getting slightly impatient with the girl's ability to get off topic.

"Well, just like I said, just use control magic." Sarah said as if it was as simple as that.

"Yeah yeah, you said that before, but what does that _mean_?" I asked, I really wanted to know how she did that, and if I could do it too. The way Sarah put it she made it sound like all benders should so it couldn't be that hard, right?

"Um…well…shit, how do I explain this." Sarah says, grabbing her chin and looking very thoughtfully at the floor, trying to figure out the best way to explain it.

Finally she says, "Well really I just grab onto the disk after I've thrown it, like I'm actually grabbing it with my hands, but with magic, and I pull. It's just that simple, just reach out and grab it."

"That's it?" Mika questions skeptically.

"That's the best way I know how to explain it, I mean that's how it is for me, it's not very complicated. I just reach out with my mind and touch it. Then I bring it in." Sarah says defending her limited explanation, trying to explain how simple it is for her. "But then again I've been doing this sort of thing since I've been born and it's always come easy to me, so I don't really remember a learning curve with this stuff. So, again Mika, I'm not the best one to teach you about this stuff."

"You've always been able to do high level bending like that?" Mako says with disbelief.

"Well yeah, truth be told I haven't actually improved my magical skills much since I was…" She starts before staring off into space as she tries to remember how long it's been. "…seven?" She says unsure, "I'll have to ask Mary about that, she knows better than me."

"How? Just how?" Mako asked incredulously. "How does a seven year old do bending like that?"

"I'm telling you guys, it's not hard! I just threw a rock then threw it back with magic! Try it!" Sarah defended emphatically.

I looked at Mako and shrugged before turning back to Sarah and saying, "I guess I can give the good ol' Bolin try, besides if a seven year old could do it than it can't be that hard." Sarah's promises that it was really simple and her explanations had finally gotten to me and I felt my confidence surge back into place. I could feel it. I was going to boomerang that earth disk.

So I walked up next to the pile, stomped the ground, bending up an earth disk, and punched forward sending it flying. However, instead of just stopping there, like I normally do, I reached out with my bending to find the stone I just threw. I couldn't feel it at first, but after what felt like a couple seconds of concentrating I felt…something. I was sure it was the disk, but I didn't get a good read on it before the disk crashed into the wall and crumbled, the loud sound of the crash ruining my concentration. All I got was a faint feeling of the disk, like I would if I brushed it my hand instead of grabbing hold of it. While it was a failure, I could still see the potential for success. It would be hard to refine, but I could tell that it could be done. I would just need to work on feeling the earth disk with bending faster, then I would have to work on grabbing it while it was in the air, and then pulling it toward me.

 _Actually now that I think about it that's a lot of work. If I want to actually do this whole boomerang bending thing then I'm going to have to practice a_ _lot_ _. I don't know how long it will take me to master it, but…_

"I got it!" I exclaimed throwing my hands in the air, ecstatic that I had figured out what Sarah had said and that I could do it. "I understand now!"

The rest of them looked at me like I had lost my mind. Which kind of makes sense because to them I had just confidently proclaimed I could do it, tried it, ended up just throwing a rock against the wall, and ended up cheering like I had done it flawlessly.

"Uh…no Bolin. You just smashed a disk into the wall." Mako said confused

"Yeah, you didn't do shit." Sarah added cynically.

"Did you mean to do that?" Mika asked innocently.

"No no no, guys, I think I figured out what Sarah was talking about." I explained, still excited about figuring it out.

"No, you just threw shit at the wall, I made it do a boomerang thing. It's a subtle difference I know." Sarah said sarcastically, also not understanding that I understood what she understood and the others didn't understand and wow that's confusing.

"No, see I know I didn't do the boomerang thing you were talking about, but after I threw the disk I reached out with my bending and I felt it. Yeah sure it was right before it crashed into the wall, but I know I can go from there to where you are. It may take a while, but I know it's possible. I just have to work at it." I said, getting pumped up

"Wait, you released it from your magical hold? Why would you do that?" Sarah asked, seeing a problem with my technique.

"What do you mean? You said to grab onto it with my bending and pull it in." I asked, now confused, I thought I was on the right track, but Sarah sounded like I was still doing something wrong.

"Oh. Now I get what you did." Sarah said, understanding finally reaching her. "I now realize the flaws in my explanation." She admitted quietly, muttering mostly to herself. Then suddenly she jolted her head up from looking at the floor as if she suddenly remembered something.

"Shit! Mika!" She yelled at Mika.

"Yeah?" Mika asked, obviously not remembering what Sarah had.

"We got distracted, we have to head back to the house! Now!"

"We do? Why?"

"Because Mary's making dinner! And it's like, eight o'clock"

"It is?!" Mika said in shocked disbelief, she couldn't believe how fast time had flown.

As we all looked to the clock on the wall we could see that it was six minutes past eight, just as Sarah said it was.

"Oh spirits you're right, we need to get back before dinner gets cold." Mika said, realizing the truth.

"She'll never forgive us if we let the dinner she made get cold." Sarah said, horrified at the prospect of what Mary would do if they got there late.

"Forget that, think about what she'll do to me during my next 'training session' if we're late. I get thrown around like her personal punching bag on a normal day, if I'm late…" Mika started to complain before shivering at the thought of the last part.

"Aw, you guys gotta go?" I asked

"Yeah, an angry Mary is a terrifying Mary." Mika explained

"Well, you're not wrong but you haven't seen angry Mary. You've seen disappointed Mary. You don't want to see angry Mary." Sarah corrected ominously.

"Hey, why don't you guys come by our next game? I'll let the guys let you in." I said, hope in my voice and on my face.

"Yeah! Definitely! When is it?" Mika answered excitedly

"It's in a few weeks, on the 29th" I answered.

"Cool. Well we'll definitely try to make it. Maybe by then you'll have perfected the boomerang form huh?" Sarah said, challenging me to get her technique down in time for my next match.

Challenge accepted.

"You bet! By the time you guys show up again I'll be able to throw two boomerang earth disks at a time!" I boasted.

"Yeah, you guys weren't as bad as I thought. I mean Mika's not the worst fangirl I've met and Sarah, you're weird, but you're alright." Mako said, damning with faint praise.

"Well, when you're not being an asshole, you're not so bad yourself Mako" Sarah shot back with a smirk as she shook Mako's hand.

"And Bolin, thanks for getting me these 'great seats', it was great to finally meet you" Mika said to me as she shook mine.

So we parted ways, and we didn't see each other again until our next match, three weeks later. In that time I tirelessly worked to get the art of boomerang bending down, but I just couldn't get everything down. It took me too long to feel the disk and grab it, by the time I did it was against the. The day before our match I was actually able to grab onto the disk and pull, but it wasn't enough. Instead arcing back to me the disk slowed down, eventually falling to the floor before taping into the wall inches above the ground. But while it was progress, it was still a failure. I wouldn't be able to use Sarah's fancy technique during the match, which was something of an unexpected setback.

But it was nothing compared to what came next.

* * *

 **Korra Pov**

By the time Sarah and I got back it was well past dark. Before we went inside I turned to Sarah.

"I had a really great time there, Thanks for taking me. After dealing with Mary for so long I kind of needed that." I thanked her sincerely.

"Yeah. I get it. I've had to deal with her all my life, I know how she can be." She answered back

"I know you didn't exactly enjoy yourself there, so thanks for bearing through it for my sake." I said, smiling back at her.

"Anytime." She responded with one of her own.

It was a nice, peaceful and content moment between us. One that grew a certain unspoken bond between us, one that neither of us really understood yet. I stared into her warm brown eyes as she gazed into my own joy filled eyes. Time seemed to freeze as I knew that I never wanted this moment to end.

Then the moment was ruined

 **SLAM!**

Mary smashed open the door we standing in front of with a thunderous bang. She stood there, hands at her sides, and a severe look on her face. In her right hand was a long sliver knife covered in blood. She was dressed in another variation of her silver dress, and as always looked majestic in it. Although, in this particular scenario she looked more dangerous than beautiful. She glared at the two of us with her brown eyes that held an icy hold over me.

"H-hey Mary." Sarah responded guiltily to the appearance of her sister.

" **You. Are. Late.** " Mary said in a crushingly glacial tone, one that commanded the utmost respect, attention, and obedience.

She turned her gaze from her sister and looked directly into my eyes. Her intense frosty leer bored into my eyes. I wanted to look away, but it held me there. They say looking into someone's eyes is tantamount to looking into their soul, and right now, as I stared into the depths of her bronze eyes, I can honestly say I've never felt colder in all my years in the South Pole. The crushing pressure of her gaze, combined the bloodied knife at her side made her a fearsome sight to behold.

"Almost." She added offhandedly, turning her gaze from me and lightening her stance.

Sarah and I nearly stumbled, having our fear filled thoughts violently ripped from our minds at her unexpected addition.

"W-what?" I asked asked, not entirely understanding what was going on.

"You are _almost_ late." She explained slowly and calmly, showing no sign of the previous icy fury.

"It's only 8:29. One minute more and this would have been a _decidedly_ much more unpleasant conversation." She explained nonchalantly while floating a not so subtle threat our way.

"Then why did you slam the door open like that?" Sarah asked, confused as to the actions of her sister.

"The two of you were taking too long gazing longingly into each other's eyes. I knew if this kept up you _would_ be late. And contrary to what you may believe, I do not, in fact, enjoy the two of you being late for the sake of me tormenting you. I prefer that you actually get while the meal is still warm." She explained simply.

"Then…what's up with the knife?" I asked, wondering why she needed to bring a bloodied knife out with her if she had no intention of actually tormenting us.

"Oh." She answered in simple surprise, as if my question was unexpected and odd.

"That's rather simply, I was eating dinner when you two arrived, and by the way we're having-" She began before being interrupted by her sister

"STEAK!" Sarah said enthusiastically, running into the house, her mouth open wide and practically drooling at the chance to eat as she smelled the perfectly seasoned meat her sister had prepared for us.

Well, that explained the blood on the knife, or at least, what looked like blood. Mary liked to get our meat raw, and the two of them tended to eat their meat in a rare to medium rare form.

I made a motion to go inside when Mary stopped me from moving past her. She looked at me inquisitively for a second before asking, "Korra, when _do_ you plan on learning air bending?"

I was taken aback by the question. The truth was, I hadn't thought about air bending in a while.

"I-uh…I don't really know. I hadn't really thought about it in a while." I responded truthfully

Mary seemed to be slightly surprised by this, tilting her head in confusion.

"Really? You haven't thought about it _at all_?" She inquired before explaining her confusion. "Earlier you seemed so driven to learn it, to master it and become a complete avatar, but now you've apparently completely forgotten about it."

"I haven't completely forgotten about it! I still want to become a full-fledged avatar!" I hastily defended, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

"It's just…I don't know, after explaining how Tenzin would probably just rebuff me again if I asked I kind of felt like…"I began to attempt to explain, but not really knowing what to say.

"Like there was no point?" Mary suggested.

"Yeah! Kinda, at least. I mean, you guys were totally right. If I go to Tenzin then he's just going to send me back to the compound, and you two might get arrested or something. Normally I might still try and do…something to learn air bending, but with you two here, I decided to change my mind about that." I explained, finally finding the words to explain my situation to Mary.

"How so?" Mary asked, tilting her head inquisitively again.

"Well, you guys are teaching me metal bending. Apparently my teachers back at the compound thought I didn't need to learn it, but I see the appearance of you and your sister as the spirits leading me toward metal bending, rather than air bending. Plus, I've never had the slightest talent with air bending, but I've never really tried metal bending. I'm thinking I'll have better luck with that, considering that air is supposed to be super spiritual element, and I'm about as un-spiritual as you can get." I explained again

"I see." She said thoughtfully. "Do not get it wrong, for someone who is not innately capable of metal magic, teaching you to do it will be hard. It will be teaching you to use a sense you've never known existed, have never used, and might not even exist." She warned with cautious eyes.

"I said I would do whatever it takes. I just want you to hurry up and actually _teach me_. I mean, it's been three days and I haven't learned a darn thing!" I answered back adamantly.

"Haven't you?" Mary answered cryptically

"Huh?" I answered in response, not understanding what she meant.

"Never mind." She dismissed as she turned to head inside, with me following close behind.

As we walked into the house, towards the dinning room Mary asked me yet another question, although this time without looking at me.

"So, Korra, where _does_ Tenzin live? I haven't particularly bothered to look up what the airbenders are doing currently, instead I've been spending most of my time on the other more active and influential parts of the world."

"Oh, well he lives with the other sir benders and air acolytes, on Air Temple Island, right out in the bay pf Republic city." I answered, somewhat surprised that she wasn't aware of that.

I said that just as we entered the living room. Sarah was ahead of us in the well lit room, already sitting at the table and gorging herself on the massive spread that lay before us. That was another odd thing about the sisters. They ate more than _any other person I've ever seen_ , and that was individually speaking. Combined they would eat through a twelve course meal fit for 24 like it was a simple lunch. Mary would eat in a polite, well mannered, organized, yet fast pace while Sarah would just dive into the food, ripping it apart in a flurry of motion with her hands and teeth. Often times she would stick as much of a piece of meat as she could in her mouth before clamping down with enough crunching force cut it in two right then and there.

"Wait…he lives on an _island_." Mary asked back with a look of surprised concern on her face.

"Umm…yes?" I answered cautiously, not really knowing what had her so spooked.

With that Mary got a new look of hardened resolve on her face. "We are _never_ going there." She declared firmly.

"What? Why?!" I asked back, surprised by how she was acting.

"Sarah and I don't _do_ islands." She answered back, dead serious, before turning to her sister. "Isn't that right, dear sister?" She shouted at Sarah, getting her attention.

"Huh?" Sarah asked, not sure what was going on as she paused her assault of the buffet.

"Korra has just informed me that Tenzin and the air benders live on an island in the bay of the city." Mary replied, gesturing to me as she did so.

Sarah had a strange look on her face as she looked to me and gulped down what was left in her mouth.

"You did?" She asks me.

I give a simple nod in response, still finding their reactions to be very strange.

"Well then… _FUCK_ THAT." She adamantly declared

"Huh?" I said, now very confused

I pressed them for answers, but all they would say was that they weren't exactly fans of water, which had me very confused because they had absolutely no problem with the boat we took to get to the city. If they were truly afraid of the water as it seemed, wouldn't that have shown on the boat ride here? Wouldn't that have shown _whenever_ we were near a large amount of water? But alas, they gave me no answers.

Soon, however, this was forgotten as the night began to round to a close. Soon I remembered how seeing the Pro-bending match felt, and eagerly awaited the moment when we would go see the Fire Ferrets play again.

* * *

 _A/n: Sorry for the delay in updating. Something just felt...missing from the original draft I was going to post, so I decided to add the second part to throw in some more plot elements, banter, and such. I'm probably going to be delaying one of the next couple chapters as I going to get my laptop to a repair center soon, so you know, don't hold your breath._

 _Edit: I did some adjustments, including the embarrassing error I made regarding time. I had Sarah and Korra leave at 8:06 and apparently run back home so fast that they traveled **back in time** to 6:59, and even still just barely arrived on time. As funny as that would be if it were true, it's not and I won't allow it, not if I can help it. When I see glaring minor errors like that it kills me to know that I fucked up in a small but meaningful (at least to me) way. I hope to do better in the future. Also I will be posting the next chapter soon, hopefully. I'm going to be going on a more weekly basis for chapter uploads. Right now chap 8 is a **bitch** to write, but chap 9's basically done, as are 10, 11, and 12. October is going to be filled with some of my favorite chapters, I'm so excited. And it's all going to be kicked off with a massive bang of a chapter, as soon as I wrap up this episode/arc thing._

 _Update: 11/30/15_

 _I didn't actually change anything, I just wanted to add another note._

 _In case you haven't noticed, I actually re-read my chapters a lot, looking for as many minor errors as I can._

 _In any case, some of you might be wondering what the fuck Sarah just did and why_

 _Well..._

 _It'l come up and make more sense later_

 _Besides, I already said Sarah's kind of super op, so that's why her throw hit like freight train and would probably kill anyone it hit._

 _Actually she wasn't even trying that hard with her throw._

 _It may look like it, but you won't see anything close to the limit of her abilities until much later_

 _I'll tell you when you see Sarah actually try._

 _Any way, War out_


	8. Scene 8: Test Day

Scene 8, Chap 8

Test Day

 **Sarah pov**

So it was finally the day of the match, and I was looking forward to taking Korra to the Pro-bending match. She sure as hell needed something to cheer her up after having to deal with Mary. Soon after meeting up with Bolin and Mako at the first Pro-bending match Korra decided that she didn't need Mary's teaching after all. I suppose it was to be expected, Mary isn't a very…tolerant person.

Yeah, let's go with tolerant.

Nor is she very empathetic.

Actually, that's not true. She can understand how other people feel and why just fine, the problem comes when it's time for _her_ to feel something in response and do something. I mean I'm sure that Mary understood perfectly well why Korra responded to her 'lessons' the way she did, and she probably understood what she would need to do to make Korra stay and feel better. It's just that Mary didn't _care_. As far she was concerned she shouldn't go out of her way to teach Korra. If Korra couldn't handle her training regimen then that was Korra's problem and she should get over it or leave.

So leave she did, and instead she asked me to teach her how to metal bend. The result was…different. Instead of leaving in anger she left in confusion. Well, actually she still left in frustration, but she didn't want to kill me, which is an improvement.

I did everything I could to accommodate her, I tried as best I could to explain how to use metal control magic but, again, the problem was that I've been doing this for as long as I can remember, I can't remember learning how to do it. It comes so simply for me, so instinctively, that I don't even know how to explain how to use metal magic other than _use metal magic_.

For me it's like explaining how to use your hands. I tell her to reach down and pick up something with her hand, or in this case mind, and she asks how. How do I explain how to reach down and pick up something with your hand(mind)?! That's my dilemma, and fortunately, Korra can see how hard it is for me to try and explain this to her, and seeing me struggle to help her makes her less frustrated at me.

In the end what I ended up doing instead of teaching Korra metal magic was teaching her how to dodge, and how to Pro-bend.

Okay, I didn't so much teach her how to Pro-bend so much as I got us both to learn the rules of Pro-bending. I did this after I found out that despite being such a big fan of Pro-bending, Korra actually had very little idea how to play the actual game. I suppose that's not too surprising considering that she usually just hears the games through the radio instead of actually seeing the game being played. So after I learned of her glaring oversight I sought to correct it, so I sat us both down and we read up on the rules.

The more I learned the rules of the game the more I thought this whole thing was bullshit. There were _so many_ restrictions on what people could and couldn't do with their magic. Earth mages had the most restriction, only able to use their stone disks, followed by water mages, who could only use bullets of water, and fire mages had the least restrictions, they could pretty much do whatever as long as they didn't kill anyone or set the entire arena on fire.

But we were successful!

At least I think we were.

I, at least, learned all the rules of the game, and I'm fairly sure Korra learned it too. She better have, I was doing this for her sake.

But in any case that night we headed over to the Pro-bending stadium again, ready to meet up with Bolin and Mako again.

We were met with sadness.

Well, sadness and rage.

You see, when we got there Bolin was sitting on a bench and Mako was leaning against a wall, both of them looking equally defeated.

"We didn't miss your match did we? You guys look like you lost already." Korra asked

"Yeah, and why isn't Harlok joining in on this party of sadness?" I added, incorrectly saying Hasook's name

"Hasook's the problem." Mako said.

"Well, I know he was kind of a dick, but how bad could it be?" I respond

"Hasooks a no-good no-show."

"Oh." Korra and I answer simply.

After reading the rules Korra and I had learned that each team needed three people, one mage of each type, to compete. No exceptions. Since the Fire Ferrets were missing their water mage they couldn't compete. Unless…

Just then a ref opened the door, announcing that if the team wasn't ready in two minutes then they would automatically forfeit.

"Well, there goes our shot at the tournament, and the winnings." Mako states sadly, sliding deeper into depression.

"Well…what if I join the team." Korra suggested, "I'm a pretty good water bender."

"No way, I'd rather forfeit than look like a fool out there." Mako sternly replies, drawing the line with his pride.

"Wow thanks for the vote of confidence."

"This is great, I've missed TV" I say, thoroughly enjoying this dramatic exchange of dreams, pride, and the will to win.

"Time's up, you in or out?" The ref says, sticking his head in again, looking for their decision.

"We're in!" Korra say excitedly, speaking for the team before heading to the lockers to get suited up.

"Yeah!" Bolin excitedly agrees.

"I didn't agree to this." Mako groans at his defeat, thinking ahead to the embarrassment he'll have to suffer later. Well, the embarrassment he _thinks_ he'll have to suffer later. In reality he'll be fine.

"I bet you're glad I made you learn the rules now aren't you?" I say to Korra

"Yeah, can you imagine how bad I would be if I still didn't know how to play?" She asks rhetorically

"You're all crazy, and I'm even crazier for going along with this." Mako sighs as Korra puts on her red uniform.

* * *

 **Korra pov**

So here we stood. On this platform facing our opponents, the…green….team? I actually don't remember what the team was called, but they weren't wearing red, and that's what was important.

As Sarah said, "Fuck those green guys."

Actually it was a _bit_ more colorful than that, but I prefer not to repeat some of the things she says.

I still couldn't believe that I was _here_ , not just watching a match, but actually on a team, my favorite team. It was incredible, the feeling of being surrounded by a cheering crowd, being constantly judged, watched. Not only that, but I wouldn't be fighting alone, I would be fighting with teammates.

As we approached the starting line for the match, time seemed to slow down, the world around me seemed fade away, I focused only on what was on the ring, nothing else mattered. As everything came into a clear focus I could hear the muffled sound of the ref in the back of my mind, waiting to call the match ready to start.

 **BZZT!**

The buzzer loudly rung, signaling the start of the match, and off we went.

The green team, noting that I was a rookie, focused on me.

They sent a relentless barrage of attacks against me, and it took all I had to dodge or block what they threw at me with a water wall. Despite their inability to land a solid hit on me, they still managed to slowly push me back with their endless stream of blows.

Mako and Bolin did their best to use the distraction I provided to their advantage, but the earth bender on their team was solidly focused on defending the team, and he did a surprisingly good job at it.

Bolin threw an earth disk at fire bender on the green team, but theirs swiftly blocked it with one of his own. The resulting explosion of rock colliding against rock sent fragments flying everywhere. One lucky piece found it's way flying right into the side of my head. It wasn't enough to really hurt or anything. It did, however, distract me for a second.

And a second was all they needed.

With that distraction I failed to dodge the water bullet flying at me. It hit me in the side with a glancing blow, something that I would normally be able to shake off. Unfortunately for me, however, it hit me in the ribs which were still sore from Mary's tortuous treatment of them in her 'lessons'.

As I felt pain explode in my side from the attack I recoiled in pain, clutching my side, leaving me open for the fire ball heading my way. It hit me full on in my chest. The impact sent me back a few feet and dazed me again.

Using that opening they struck again, and again, and again. I was helpless against their relentless barrage, never having enough time between blows to recover and successfully defend, and whenever I did my ribs would scream in pain again, filling my body with paralyzing fire.

After being struck with another fireball I left a giant opening for them to attack as I recoiled again in pain, having absolutely no defense for the next strike.

Their earth bender took advantage of this and finally decide to the team effort of beating on the new girl. Either by design or on accident, the earth disk he sent hurtling at me hit me right in my sorest ribs. I felt agonizing pain detonate inside me as I heard, as I _felt_ , my ribs give way and finally break. As much as I have a tolerance for pain, I still couldn't help but cry out in pain from the feeling of having my ribs broken.

"AHH!" I cried out. As much as I could take the pain in the long run, right now the blinding white pain surging through my body was crippling.

Unfortunately, it didn't just affect me.

Hearing me cry out in pain, Bolin was unable to resist turning to look at me as I doubled over clutching my chest in pain.

That mistake cost him.

Seeing the new opening on another Fire Ferret the water bender on the green team threw a blob at him, setting up for the fire bender to send another strike.

With me in crippling pain, and Mako having his hands full with the earth bender, Bolin was alone in fighting off the water fire combo the green team had going for them, and he was losing.

Bad.

They didn't give him enough time to retaliate or block, just like they did with me, but they were even more ruthless with him because they didn't have to worry about dodging the rest of the team's strikes.

In the end they were able to push us all off the end, winning the round soundly. As we regrouped at the elevator raising us up Mako looked at me angrily.

"What was that! You didn't do anything but get beat on!" He growled out, obviously frustrated about how this was going. "I knew this was a bad idea."

Bolin, however, was a bit more concerned about me. "Hey, Mako, chill bro. They were kind of relentless against her."

He then turned to me and said, " Hey, Mika, you okay? You looked like you took a pretty bad hit out there?" He asked, concern evident in his emerald eyes.

"Ye-yeah." I grunted out, my chest still pounding with pain. "I forgot about some injuries to my ribs I got earlier. They got a couple lucky hits on them…and I think they broke a few." I admit through my clenched teeth.

"Wait, shit, they broke your ribs? I-I'm sorry, I just thought you were…I don't know, being a baby or something." Mako apologized, explaining why he was being such an ass to me.

"It's okay, you didn't know." I responded. "Besides, I'm just as angry at myself for letting them take advantage of me."

"Mika, if your ribs are broken you got to sign out of the match. That's a serious injury, and I don't want to see you get worse just to help us win." Bolin suggested, genuinely worried for my wellbeing.

"Yeah, as much as I don't like our odds without you, I'm not going to make you go out there and fight with us with some broken ribs." Mako agreed

"…No" I declared firmly.

Their comments and concerns regarding my health only served to strengthen my resolve.

"Mika, you don't have to do this for us-"Bolin began to explain, trying to get me to sit it out, but I wouldn't let them talk me down.

"NO! I'm not going to run away from this just 'cause I broke a rib or two!" I resolutely declared.

I had promised these guys I was going to help, and I was the avatar. What kind of avatar would I be if I walked away from helping my friends win a _game_ just because I got hurt. No, I could never live with myself if I turned away now. Spirits, I couldn't live with myself if I turned away at all.

"Besides-" I began, reminding myself of how Sarah would react to all this, " I've had worse." I said with a smirk as I buried the pain.

The brothers looked at each other with concern, not sure whether to accept my declaration, but in the end they nodded. After we got through that we decided to come up with a good plan to strike back.

I was going to hang back and try to antagonize the other team when I could, but at the same time I would do my best to stay out of Mako and Bolin's way. They would be the ones doing the real work. It was the plan that made the most sense.

If Mako and Bolin were working together they were almost unstoppable, they synergized well with each other such that they could almost win the match by themselves. In the last round they had spent too much time worrying about me to play to their strengths well enough to get the advantage. That's why this time I was going to be sitting back and playing a supporting role.

I was going to stay out of the line of fire, and help out when I could without getting in their way or exerting myself too much. This could mean strike the green guys when I saw a good opening, or blocking a strike the other guys didn't see coming.

Hopefully, it would work

* * *

 **Bolin pov**

So far the plan was working. Mika was hanging back, and despite their attempts to do otherwise, she was avoiding most the attacks.

Together, Mako and I were able to push forward aggressively, keeping the other team from mounting too much of a counter-attack. Mika actually helped out surprisingly well by blasting the occasional blow that would come our way with one of her water blasts. She was a surprisingly good shot, being able to shoot down someone's projectile with one of your own when it wasn't heading towards you was a pretty impressive feat.

More importantly it allowed Mako and I to focus more of our efforts on attacking them and keeping them occupied, instead of worrying about attack _and_ defense.

In the end, thanks to our new strategy, we were able to soundly defeat them in the second round, scoring us one point, and one step close to the win.

The problem came in the _third_ round. You see, these guys were actually _very_ good at adapting to our strategies once they had time to coordinate. After seeing the way our teamwork actually _worked_ they were able to adapt to a degree.

Right from the start of the next round they started with an initial barrage of attacks that forced us to defend. We were able to counter-attack, but it was met with a solid defense of their own.

We would attack, they would defend, then they would counter-attack, then we would defend, then we would counter-counter-attack, and they would defend and so on and so on. It was what felt like an endless flow of attack and defend. We were stuck in an eternal stalemate for what felt like hours, but in reality it was just a a minute or two.

What we needed, was an edge. Some way to tip the balance in our favor. Something to catch them off guard.

That got me thinking about what Sarah showed us earlier, the thing with the boomerang attack. I had gotten a little better at it, but I still wasn't nearly as good as she was at it. I mean, it wasn't really even a boomerang yet, it was just a earth disk I could slow down in flight.

As I brought another earth to block an attack I was surprised to see that this time the water bullet didn't actually brake the disk. So, while I still held it with my bending, I threw the disk at them, which of course, they blocked. Again.

But that's not the important part. What was, was what it reminded me of. Holding the disk in place for so long and _then_ throwing it reminded me of what Sarah said earlier.

" _Wait, you released it from your magical hold? Why would you do that?" Sarah asked, seeing a problem with my technique._ Her voice rang in my head.

 _Wait, release my magical hold?...Does she mean let…go….of…it? That's It! She was talking about how I throw the disk! She was trying to say that I shouldn't throw it! I shouldn't let it go with my bending! If I held onto it with my bending the whole way then I could make it change direction in flight without trying to find it again. This could work!_ I thought excitedly as I realized what Sarah was trying to tell me.

So, next time I got a chance, I took it.

The water bender sent another water bullet at me, and once again a summoned another earth disk from the rack. This time, however, I didn't use it to block the attack. Instead I darted to the side at the right time, barley dodging the strike in time. Using the momentum I built up from the dodge I threw the disk forward, but this time I didn't simply 'throw' the disk, I held onto it, never really letting go of it with my bending.

It shot forward, initially going straight for the water bender right in front of me, causing him to raise a water shield, but then I twisted my body some more, pulling it to the left, and causing it fly wide and out of the arena.

"OH-HO! It looks like Bolin's getting tired! That shot wasn't even close!" The announcer jibed, pointing me out for the entire green team.

The water bender agreed with that observation grinning at my perceived weakness. He thought I was tired, vulnerable, and weak. So he decided to capitalize on that.

I, on the other hand, kept my grip on the disk with my body, and twisted my body around again, to the right this time, pulling the disk with me. It was harder than I thought it would be, keeping a grip on it as it flew farther and farther away from me, but somehow I was able to do it. I felt the disk curve and arc its flight path, curving back towards the ring, though no one seemed to notice.

The water bender decided to take this moment of vulnerability to strike at me with a hard and fast water bullet. I was too focused on redirecting the disk to dodge the bullet, so I knew I had to just take the hit and hope I was able to keep my hold on the disk.

Luckily when it hit me in just the right way such that I was able to whether the blow. I was able to keep my hold on the disk.

Meanwhile I continued my hold on the disk, arcing it through the air and homing in on target, get closer and closer to the fire bender on the far side of the ring from me. Finally it hits him in a combination of both good and bad luck.

The bad luck is that since this is the first time I've ever done anything like this it just grazes him, not really hitting him full on. The good luck is that it hits him right as Mako is throwing a fireball at him.

While my boomerang shot is only a grazing blow, it's enough to throw him off balance and distract him, leaving him wide open for Mako's strike, one that he coincidentally threw his all into. The massive fireball connects and explodes with enough force to send him flying back into the zone behind him. The massive fiery explosion has the added benefit of distracting the other two on the team, a fatal mistake on their part. Mika manages to utilize the distraction to the fullest, quickly throwing a blast of water at the earth bender.

From here the tide of the match turns in our favor. Like a dam, at first it was an even stalemate betweent he two of us, each pushed to the breaking point but not giving in. My successful, if unorthodox, attack was like a crack in the dam that allowed a bit of the water to flow through. We didn't win immediately after that, but just like that crack in the dam, we grew from there, growing stronger while the dam grew weaker under our power.

Eventually we won that round, putting us in the lead, 2-1. But that wasn't the end, and the dam hadn't burst yet.

The next round they managed to push back. They fought with even more ferocity thant he last round to make up for their previous defeat. I try to use my boomerang shot on them again, but I am for from a master at it. In hindsight when I though I was unlucky in getting a glancing blow the truth of the matter was that I was lucky tpo get a hit in at all.

Then, disaster struck. The other team remembered the apparent weakness that Mika had ad decided to capitalize on it by double teaming Mika again. The first one sent a fireball at her, which she blocked with a water wall creating a cloud of steam in front of her.

It blinded her to the earth disk sent in immediately after the fireball. The disk went sailing right through the cloud and into Mika's already heavily wounded chest. The blow is crippling.

"Ahh!" She cries out in pain, unable to hold back when struck powerfully again in her already broken ribs. She's paralyzed as she doubles over in pain from the attack.

From there our defense and moral is crippled as Mako and I can't help but be distracted by worrying over Mika's condition. The take us apart, slowly but surely, but we put up a fight while we go down.

But down we go.

In the end we lose the second round, tying the match up at 2-2. Whatever the outcome, this next round is the last one. No matter what happens, this is it, either we win, or we lose.

* * *

 **Korra pov**

Back on the platform I wait for Mako and Bolin to get back to me.

I can't help but be disappointed in myself. Despite being the avatar, right now I'm nothing but a hindrance to these two. I thought I could hold my own, to out match my opponents. I thought, surely since this is just a game it's not nearly as bad as my training, right?

But I was sorely mistaken. This was almost _nothing_ like my training with the White Lotus. These guys were brutal, and cunning. They didn't fight using conventional fighting styles.

They moved all over the place, never staying in one spot for too long. Not to mention the attacks they performed were practically unpredictable. It was hard to adjust. In fact these guys were almost the hardest opponents I've ever faced…almost.

 _But Mary could beat all of them_. I realized.

That thought made me realize that Mary really _was_ the strongest opponent I've ever fought by far. No one came close, not even these chumps. In fact, now that I thought about it, compared to fighting Mary, these guys were a breeze.

I could actually fight back against these guys, unlike Mary. With Mary I couldn't even hit her, and when she struck there was nothing I could do to dodge, block, or whether the blow.

As I thought about it I remembered what she had said about me.

" _Well considering we've been doing this for over a week and you have yet to even try and dodge the spear you know is coming, I'm starting wonder whether or not you're even capable of learning." Mary counters without even looking up from her book. Her tone is one of boredom as she casually insults me by pointing out the shortcomings of my tactics while facing her_

 _She's right_. I realized.

 _I haven't really learned much of anything since the white lotus compound, and even there I was too stubborn to change much_.

But then I remember the other thing she said.

" _I said I would do whatever it takes. I just want you to hurry up and actually teach me. I mean, it's been three days and I haven't learned a darn thing!" I answered back adamantly._

" _Haven't you?" Mary answered cryptically_

" _Huh?" I answered in response, not understanding what she meant._

When I first heard that I just dismissed it, I didn't think about it, but now…now I _needed_ to understand. I needed to prove myself not just to Mako and Bolin, not just to Sarah and Mary, but to myself. I needed to prove myself worthy of whatever faith Mary had in me.

At no point in our sparing did Mary actually say I was weakling outright, instead she would remark that I had disappointed her, that she thought I was capable of so much more if only I stopped being such an idiot.

Mary wasn't the type to usually misjudge things, nor was she one to put her faith in the something just because of sentimental or altruistic reasons. If she had faith in me, than it wasn't just because she was being nice, it was she actually saw potential in me, potential that she felt I was squandering with my foolish and headstrong ways.

… _But then, Sarah is headstrong._ I thought to myself, realizing that maybe my headstrong wasn't part of the problem.

 _Maybe….maybe it's part of the solution_. I hypothesized.

Maybe I can use it to my advantage. After all, Sarah's just as impulsive as me, but she's one of the strongest fighters I've ever seen. I just need to remember what they taught me.

Right now my biggest weakness is the fact that I have several broken ribs sending agonizing pain throughout my body. The pain is excruciating, especially after that last attack exacerbated my injuries, leaving me in crippling pain. It kept me from really concentrating and applying myself.

But…

At the same time Sarah was able to basically shrug off being burned alive. I mean sure, it took three days for her to recover, but she was completely fine, and didn't hold the slightest bit of a grudge.

Then again, after the beating she gave me I'm starting to rethink that part.

Regardless, I have to think about what Sarah would say in this situation. What she _has_ said about this.

Earlier, after receiving similar injuries from Mary and attempting to recover Sarah tried to get me to spar with her. I tried to wave her off, saying I was too hurt to fight her, after all my ribs crying in agony from the punishment her sister had delivered. But Sarah wasn't having it.

" _Pft, its just pain. It's not like you're missing an arm or something. But if it really affects you that much I can tell you three things you can do about it. They aren't the only things, but they are pretty useful." She began to explain._

 _Yeah, that's right. Sarah's already told me how to handle this pain, and Mary's already shown me how to take them down_. I think to myself, steeling my resolve as I set my course for either victory….

….or self destruction.

* * *

 **Mako pov**

I climbed onto the elevator where Mika was waiting for us, getting ready for the final round. As much as I wanted to win, I had to face the fact that the odds weren't in our favor.

Mika was critically wounded, I doubted she could do much more than try not to pass out. Bolin and I weren't in the best of conditions after such a long match. The other team wasn't technically in much better condition, but then again they didn't have a rookie teammate with several broken ribs.

 _But what can we do?_ Thought to myself, struggling to think of any possible way for us to pull out a win out of this.

Bolin managed to catch up with me and I helped him out of the water and onto the elevator. I turned around to look at Mika and was startled by what I saw.

She looked pale, and had a ragged breath, indicative of her physical state, but that's not what surprised me. What surprised me was _look in her eye_.

It was…it was like looking at pure, raw, untamed passion and determination. Her irises where like two rings of the sea. Infinite in depth, and size …and power. Despite looking like death on legs, her eyes showed that she couldn't have been more alive and sure of herself.

"Mako…I have a plan." She said in a determined voice that showed no signs of the pain wracking her body.

"I'm not going to like it am I?" I responded without a trace of humor in my voice. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Not like what? Mika, what are you planning?" Bolin asked. Regardless of how he sounded, he wasn't actually clueless of what she meant, he just didn't want to believe it.

"I…I want you to let me take the lead." She declared firmly

"WHAT!" I shouted in outrage." No way in _hell_ am I letting you do that! Not only are you a rookie, but you look like you're on death's door! I may want to win, but I'm not having you kill yourself to do it!"

"Mika, come on. No offense, but what could you even do. Like Mako said, you look like your about to drop dead any second. You can barely stand up, let alone fight. I don't see how you can do anything at this point." Bolin added in a concerned tone. He was trying to turn away from this self-destructive and prideful behavior.

But our concerns only seemed to strengthen her resolve. She grit her teeth, clenched her fists, stood up straighter and looked us straight in the eyes,

"I'm not doing this just for you. I'm doing this for myself. If I let something as trivial as a broken rib or three stop me from helping someone, or backed down from just because I was in pain, then I'd never be able to live with myself. I won't stop until I've done _everything_ in my power, and I've barely done anything at all. In fact, I've been more of a hindrance than anything. I _need_ to do this." She said with an indomitable look. He eyes were filled so much passion and strength that it was hard to look at them.

"But-" I started to protest.

"No. Just….just trust me guys. Just trust me." She pleaded.

No, pleaded isn't the right word, there was too much strength in her right now for it to be a simple plea. No, I don't know what it was, and I don't know what part of her finally won her over, but I just couldn't say no to her indomitable will.

"…fine." I relented reluctantly.

"But Mako…" Bolin started halfheartedly. The fact was, he agreed with me, he was just arguing for the sake of arguing because he didn't like it anymore than I did.

"No Bolin. Mika says she knows what she's doing." I responded

 _I just pray she's right… and that we're not sending this girl to an early grave._ I thought solemnly.

Mika nodded in acknowledgement and gave us a small smile in thanks.

The elevator rose and took us all back to the platform

* * *

 **Bolin pov**

We walked back up to the starting line. The whole way there Mika looked like she was about to drop dead. As much as I didn't want her to, I couldn't bring myself to oppose her determination. I didn't want to let her take the lead. I wanted to protect her. I didn't think she knew what she was doing. I felt that she was just putting her personal pride ahead of all sense and reasoning.

…But…

At the same time…I just couldn't bring myself to look her in the eyes and tell her no. When I looked at her all I could see was indomitable will given flesh and form. It was…intimidating. So as a result I just let her do what she wanted with just the barest hint of resistance, no matter how much my conscious was screaming at me to stop her before she killed herself.

It's funny though.

The fact is, I shouldn't have worried. The truth of the matter is, this round…this round the dam finally burst.

Reluctantly Mako and I stood back behind Korra, waiting for the match to start, something everyone was able to pick up on.

"Oh would you look at this! It looks like the Fire Ferrets have opted to sacrifice their weakest link as a meat shield! Such a brutally cold tactic is unusual for them, but the fact is they need to do something different if they want to have any chance of winning." The announcer said, giving a round of boos at us from the crowd.

All in all it made Mako and I feel like even bigger pieces of shit than we already for going along with this. I looked at Mike to try and see if I could try and convince her to change her mind. I wanted to give it one last try before she killed herself.

But when I looked at her, she looked back with that iron determination. It subverted my will, and kept me from offering even the slightest form of actual resistance. Hell, I couldn't even look at her sapphire orbs for too long, it's like the bored into my skull, piercing through to gaze into my very soul.

So…I looked away and bit my tongue, feeling dirty for allowing this to happen, but unable to bring myself to do anything about it. I felt like a coward, but I just _couldn't_ so no. I just couldn't.

I looked at Mako and I could tell that he felt just about the same way as I did, both of us just biting our tongue and allowing this girl we just met to throw herself to the proverbial wolf-bats.

I looked ahead at the green team and found that they were all doing some variation of smirking or grinning. They felt that they had this in the bag, and frankly, I couldn't blame them. The fact was, this was almost assuredly going to fail miserably in one way or another.

 _ **BZZT**_

The buzzer rang signifying the beginning of the match, and before anyone else could even _twitch_ the unexpected occurred.

 _WHOOOSH_

A large blob of water rose up from the grates in a massive rush and slammed into the middle player on the green team like a freight train, hitting him hard enough to send him flying back all the way to the third zone.

…

…

…

…

Everything in the arena was deathly silent as everyone just sat looking in shock and awe. Even the other members of the green team were surprised. You could hear a pin drop in the deafening silence. It was like time was frozen while everyone tried to figure out _what the hell just happened_.

Then, suddenly the silence was broken by the most unusual sound.

 _CACKLING_

Someone was _cackling_ wildly, laughing like a madman on a killing spree.

HA HA _HA HA HA_ _ **HA HA! AH HA HA HA HA !**_

It was incredibly unnerving and unsettling.

Pretty much everyone looked around to see where it was coming from, but it sounded like it was coming from everywhere. It was like the _arena itself_ was laughing at this unprecedented surprise.

* * *

 **Sarah pov**

I just couldn't help myself.

When I saw what Korra did, how she headed both mine and Mary's advice, and more importantly how the others reacted to it, I just couldn't help but laugh.

To see everyone in the entire arena basically shit there pants as once was absolutely hilarious.

In hindsight though, I probably should have reigned it in a bit, or at least tried to.

As a result of my loss of control from uncontrollable laughter I subconsciously kind of turned the entire metal structure of the arena into a giant speaker, sending the sound of my booming laughter everywhere, allowing it to flood the arena with ominous cackling. Seeing both of those things combined was pretty spectacular. The only one who wasn't affected by my haunting laughter was Korra.

Korra, in one way, looked like she was on deaths door. Even from the distance I was from her I could see that she was sweating bullets, not to mention her relatively pale complexion as well as her ragged breath. It was the reason I was so proud of her, because despite looking like she was knocking on deaths door, she also looked like she was ready to take on an army.

As tired as she was, she was giving off an…aura of power, and aggression. Basically she was applying some of the basic lessons I told her about being a berserker.

How to deal with pain, and how to deal with your enemies.

 **Korra pov**

So there I stood, panting as I dealt with the waves of pain coming over my body from over-exerting myself.

But….

I couldn't stop. I couldn't slow down. I couldn't relent, not until I won.

Focusing on the pain I rmembered the first way Sarah told me to deal with it.

" _First there's the method where you just stuff all that pain into a little box, and shove it into a coner in your mind. Just shove it into that abyss in your mind, and hold it back until you win. You can bitch and moan when the fight's over." Sarah said to me_

So I did, took that very first step and shoved the pain into a little ironclad box in mind and threw away the key.

It wasn't perfect…but it had done the job well enough for me to throw the first punch. But right now, the pain had exploded out of the box and was now throbbing through my body. The bounding in my head was deafining, it's all I could hear as I saw everyone around me just stare and gawk at me.

But…that was fine. If they wanted to give me a breather to gather my wits about me again, I wouldn't stop them.

So, when I saw that subtle shift in my opponent's eye, that shift from simple shock and awe to determination, I knew that they were preparing to strike. As time slowed down again I concentrated on another method that Sarah taught with regard with how to deal with pain.

" _Second, logic it out. That's not_ technically _accurate, at least I think so, it basically fits. What I mean by that is, break down the pain into it's most basic form, I guess. Isolate the_ _pain_ _and look at through pure hard, cold, logic. Don't acknowledge the pain as something that_ _ **hurts**_ _, instead, think of it in terms of information._

 _For example, say I broke your arm, that would hurt a lot, wouldn't it? Of course it would. So, instead of processing it as the agonizing, blinding, overwhelming pain that it is, simply think of it as pure information, detach yourself from it. You're arm's not in agonizing pain, it's just broken. And a broken arm won't stop you, it might slow you down, but it's not a vital organ or anything._

 _I'll admit, it's not as easy as it sounds to detach yourself from the more…emotional parts of pain. The part that actually hurts, as opposed to the actually useful information it contains. But once you master it…well, it's actually kind of unsettling what you can do. Mary's mastered that form of pain control and I've seen her take a crushed arm like a minor inconvenience." Sarah explained_

I hadn't had too much practice with this version of pain control, and Sarah _did_ say it was hard to do, but I also had some practice, what with all the sessions with Mary where she practically killed me. So I tried it.

I tried to separate the information from the pain. I concentrated on it, looked at what it was telling me, and rationalized it.

I had several broken ribs, as well as several bruised organs. Much of my central mass was covered in bruises, and that was a fact. Nothing I could do right now would change it. I just had to accept it.

And it worked…sort of.

I was definitely feeling less pain right now, it was less crippling, but it was still enough that it hurt to do…well, anything really. It even hurt to breath. Still, it wasn't enough to paralyze me, to cripple me. I was able to power through easily enough.

The green team member I had knocked back with my initial attack turned out to be their water bender, which was fortunate for me. I looked at him in the back, still rolling around on the ground in pain, just laying there holding his chest in pain.

The other two finally decided to retaliate for my attack, sending fire balls and earth disks at me, but still in silence. Still the whole world was mute before me. A silent orchestra of pain and spirit.

Pushing through the pain, rationalizing it, I managed to dodge and weave through their attacks. Compared to Mary's spear they were ludicrously slow. Tracking the projectiles as the moved through the air wasn't terribly hard, no.

No, the hard part came when I had to make my body react to what my mind wanted it to do. It had taken a beating, and it surely didn't want to, but I still I pushed through and endured. Moving with speed and grace that my wounded body protested against vehemently, I simply took note of it and made it perform the tasks anyway.

Finally, I saw an opening, and I took it. The fire earth bender sent a strike immediately after the fire bender, leaving him open for an attack. Quicker than a viper-rat I lunged forward with my bending. I grabbed hold of the water in the troughs, gathered it up behind me, and thrust my fist forward in a water bending haymaker aimed straight at the fire bender's chest. It struck with such speed a ferocity that he didn't have time to react before he was sent flying across the zones, ending up right next to his buddy in zone three.

The earth bender made the mistake of looking back at his teammates in fear and surprise, giving me the perfect opening to strike him too. Continuing the momentum I used for my haymaker, I spun around and gave him a water bending based spinning back-kick, throwing him back with his friends.

Unfortunately, I didn't land as best as I could from the attack, for some reason I was feeling rather lightheaded leaving my balance something to be desired for. I managed to recover before I fell to the ground, but still…I could feel my body slowing down, my breath getting more and more shallow, and my thoughts becoming more and more hazy.

I needed to end this….

….Soon.

 _What was that last thing Sarah talked about? Oh right, her favorite_. I thought to myself remembering the final technique

* * *

 **Earlier in the Week**

" _You know that pain you're feeling right know?" She asked my after a sparing match with Mary._

" _Yeah? She cracked a few of my ribs again." I answered._

" _Well here's the third technique. And this one…this one is my favorite." She explained excitedly, grinning a bit with that mad intent leaking out again._

" _It is?" I asked back, rhetorically really_

" _Yup." She replied, pausing to gather her thoughts a bit. " You know how the other tow were about ignoring pain?"she asked_

" _Yeah?" I responded_

" _Well, this one is about embracing it." She began to explain_

" _Embracing it?" I asked, not seeing how that made any sense_

" _Yeah, instead of pretending the pain doesn't exist, or rationalizing it, you embrace it, and redefine it."_

" _Huh?" I asked, not getting it._

" _Normally when you experience pain, it..well…hurts. It's something that is displeasurable, something you instinctually want to avoid at all costs. But the goal of this technique is basically to turn pain…into pleasure." She explained with that sinister grin growing wider as she got more and more enthralled in explain her berserker techniques._

" _Really?" I said somewhat skeptically._

" _Yeah! Well…pleasure or something else not…crippling. It could be rage. You could just use the pain to feed your rage to make you into some time of unstoppable monster thast feeds of it, like a certain jolly green giant." She explained_

" _A certain what?" I asked back , not getting the reference at all._

" _Nothing, it's copyrighted." She explained hastily_

" _Huh?" I responded, not knowing what copyright was._

* * *

 **Present**

So, that's what I tried to do now. I tried to turn that pain into something that wasn't crippling, something that fueled me, rather than cripple me. Unlike Sarah, I couldn't just shrug of the pain, or take pleasure form it. At least…not yet.

So instead I turned to the other medium.

Rage.

I used the pain pounding through my body to fill me with anger. I stoked the flames of wrath as I took a shaky step forward, slowly making my over to my opponents. Each step taking me closer and closer to fury-filled oblivion. It was stupid, it was reckless, and it was dangerous, but kept me moving, it kept me winning, it kept me _powerful_.

Bolin and Mako slowly and carefully followed me, not really sure how to react to the supposed weakest member of the team suddenly single-handedly kicking their collective asses, all while severely wounded.

In front of me I saw that all the members of the green team moved into a more defensive posture, not that it would do them any good. No defense could compare to Mary's indestructible shield.

In response to their defensive tactics, I decided to go more aggressive. After all, I didn't have much time left. I was running on fury, adrenaline, and sheer will at this point. My body wanted to collapse. If they successfully managed to drag this out for too long, I might actually pass out. It was a very real realization for me, considering how my vision was beginning to blur.

Nevertheless I charged forward, gathering up a ball of water behind me. I skidded to a stop before them, throwing the ball forward with all the speed I could manage. If I had been thinking clearly, I might have thrown it at the most defensive target. Instead, in my fury, I decided to attack the one a hit first, to finish him off and solve the mistake I made not knocking him out of the fight with the first hit.

The ball, now more of a bullet, hurtled forward at blistering speeds. In fact, I put so much energy into it that it was actually boiling, and so much speed that it was barely even a blur. My target stood absolutely no chance.

It slammed into the water bender's water shield he tried to raise in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Instead of deflecting, or even slowing down my boiling bullet, it simply consumed the shield in it's wrathful tear through the air. Gaining even more mass it slammed into the water bender like freight train, throwing him off the platform so hard he hit the opposite wall of the arena before landing in the water.

Learning their lesson from before the other two didn't allow themselves to be distracted by the brutal demise of their teammate.

Not that that would do them any good.

The fire bender decided to strike back and sent a fire ball my way, and despite my best effort I was unable to fully dodge it, allowing it to land a glancing blow as I spun around it. This only served to further fuel my rage, and in response I continued the spin and used it to gather up more water from the troughs. I concentrated, and focused it using a left-handed haymaker aimed at the fire bender in retaliation for him striking me.

He threw up a flimsy fire shield of some type to block it, but despite most of it turning to steam it still followed through and threw him off the platform.

This left only one last target.

He sent a few earth disks my way but I was able to dodge them with ease.

 _Their just so slow_ I thought with disdain.

Then, I retaliated.

Instead of immediately taking this one down with one strike, I was forced to use a flurry of blows thanks to his impressive defensive skill. Each time I sent a high-power water bullet at him he was able to block it enough with his earth disks that he could get out of the way of the blast. Nonetheless I was determined to wear down his defenses before he wore down my stamina.

So I sent blow after blow after blow, each time throwing them faster, and faster, and faster still. Soon I was sending a barrage of water bullets at him, giving him no time to do anything else except block and dodge.

Then, finally, I was able to get in a hit. It wasn't a powerful one, but it was enough to throw him off. So, I pushed the advantage. I sent another, then another, then another, each time he got hit, and each time he got ever so closer to the edge. Finally, when he was one step away I pulled back to give him a high impact finisher. By this point he had been beaten silly from my barrage, preventing him from snapping out of his daze long enough to do…anything really.

Instead, he just took it to the chest, and was sent flying to the far wall like the first one.

And with that, the match was over. They were all over the edge. We won. At first there was deafening silence, though whether that was from the throbbing pain in my head or the crowd being stunned at my actions, I couldn't tell. My head still felt fuzzy.

As the rage left my body and mind, I could feel the pain and hurt start to take its place. It was overwhelming, especially the pain in my chest. In my lungs. Feeling _something_ wet in my throat I coughed, roughly and harshly. Looking back down at my hand I noticed that it was now an odd shade of red.

And with the pain fully exploded through my body and darkness flooded me vision. I almost didn't feel the floor coming up to meet my face.

Almost.

* * *

 _A/n: This chapter_

 _..._

 _This **Fucking** Chapter_

 _..._

 _..._

 _ **Fuck this Chapter.**_

 _This Chapter sucked to write. It was like pulling your own goddamn teeth._

 _Hell, I'm not even 100% sure it's even up to my standards, but right now I'm tired, I want to go to bed, and I want to get this fucking chapter out of the way._

 _If your wondering what's taken this chapter so long it's really a combination of we not liking this chapter, and my computer getting sent in for repairs._

 _In the end they couldn't fix it, so they just gave the credit back so I could buy a better one, and right now I'm appreciating the serious upgrade._

 _Update: 11/30/15:_

 _Again, not much is being changed, just modification of the note._

 _In case you didn't notice, I didn't like writing this chapter._

 _Also you may think the little boomerang thing I did with Bolin is weird and doesn't have a place._

 _It does_

 _What it is, is the indicator of future progress_

 _That ability is going to turn into some pretty badass shit later on._

 _Anyway, if you didn't like this chapter, I'm sorry._

 _I didn't either, and frankly I don't really even want to touch it with a twelve foot pole_

 _so, sorry for my failings, I'll try and make up for that by writing better chapters._

 _And please, tell me when and where I fuck up._

 _Or where I do awesome._

 _I'll try and use that to improve._

 _Peace._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Actually, know what, fuck peace._

 _War._

 _War out._


	9. Scene 9: Waking in Darkness

Scene 9, Chap 9

Waking in Darkness

 **Korra pov**

As I felt the beginnings of consciousness arise within me, I began to feel again. The first thing that hit me was how sore I felt.

The second thing that hit me was that there was some kind of muffled sound around me. Darkness surrounded my, enveloping everything, drowning me in pain.

I tried to focus on the only thing not suffocating me.

Not the taste and smell blood and iron.

Not the feeling of pain smothering my body.

Not the darkness around me.

Only the sound of muffled cries gave me hope to escape this cage.

So I focused on it. Focused on the sound to take me away from this nightmare. As I did the sound became more and more focused, and eventually I was able to tell it was a voice.

I tried to move but body wouldn't respond, not that I could see it anyway.

 _Is this the spirit world?_ I asked myself.

I had never been to the spirit world before, even though I was supposed to be some sort of spiritual leader as the avatar. So, knowing next to nothing about the spirit world I could only assume that this was it, and that this was, I don't know, some kind of …message?

 _Maybe the spirits are trying to contact me?_ I mused as I tried to solve the mystery of this…whatever this was.

Soon it became clearer and clearer until finally I could begin to hear what it said.

 _Okay spirits…what do you want to tell me_

"Sup Bitch"

…

…

…

…

 _Okay….._

… _._

… _._

… _Not the spirts._ I realized

"Come on Korra, I know you're awake, now get the _fuck_ up before I break you awake."

 _Yep…that's definitely Sarah_.

Seeing as how I _wasn't_ in the spirit world or…dead…or lacking a body, or anything like that I figured I might as well try to wake up. To once more become part of the living world.

Easier said than done.

I tried to respond to Sarah, but my body was still sluggish and sore.

"I'm awake." I groggily tried to say.

"Congratulations! You're not dead!" Sarah excitedly congratulated.

"Sarah, do _shut up_." I heard Mary say in that typical regal, cold, voice.

"Yeah, definitely not the spirit world." I murmured quietly.

"What?" Sarah asked

 _Apparently not quietly enough_.

"Nothing." I murmured, not having nearly enough energy to join Sarah's enthusiasm.

"She mentioned that she wasn't in the spirit world." Mary answered dismissively.

At this I decided to finally open my eyes and I was greeted with a somewhat surprising sight. Though in hindsight, it shouldn't really have been _that_ surprising.

I saw that I was sitting in a hospital bed, covered in sheets. Sarah was standing up to my left, hovering over me with a joyous grin on her face. She looked truly happy that I was alright. Mary, on the other hand, was being Mary.

That is to say, she wasn't even bothering to look at me. Instead she was sitting down on a chair behind Sarah reading a book.

"Why am I in the hospital?" I asked.

"Because you're an idiot." Mary chided dismissively without even looking up from her book

"What?" I asked, confused because that didn't really answer anything.

"You're in the hospital because you kicked ass!" Sarah enthusiastically responded…still not explaining anything.

"…What?" I asked in an exasperated tone.

"Okay, see, when you were fighting in your first pro-bending match you got hurt." Sarah began to explain.

"Yeah, I know. I got a broken rib or two from when they hit me in the chest since I was still injured form Mary's _lessons_." I answered groggily with a tough of venom, still sore from those blows.

"Try six." Sarah corrected.

"What!?" I exclaimed, suddenly jolting awake.

"Yep, you had six broken ribs, as well as some pretty intense internal bleeding. You were kinda fucked up on the inside." Sarah explained, nodding sagely.

"And _that_ is why you're an idiot." Mary explained, still not looking up from her book.

"And it's also why you're a badass." Sarah added enthusiastically.

"I think I'm going to need a better explanation." I responded, holding my head in my hands as a mild headache hit me. As I slowly woke up my body was able to tell me more clearly how messed up I felt right now.

"You kicked ass despite almost dying!" Sarah explained "Really took those lessons of mine to heart."

"Yes, and then Sarah decide to perpetuate the myth of the ghost of the arena." Mary added critically.

"Huh?"  
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but when you performed you're little last stand, Sarah started laughing. Normally this wouldn't be that bad, except this time she decided to use the _whole arena_ as her own personal speaker. This caused people to think that the arena _itself_ was laughing, thus perpetuating the myth of the ghost of the arena." Mary calmly explained.

"Oh." I said simply

"Yeah. It's in all the papers. Well, that and the newest, most badass…est pro-bender for the Fire Foxes." Sarah happily elaborated.

"Ferrets" I corrected, to which she dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Speaking of which…" Mary began.

"Oh, right." Sarah responded, realizing something she forgot

"'oh right', what?" I asked, wanting to know what they were talking about.

"Your teammates are waiting outside for you right know. They were pretty freaked out when you passed out on the ring coughing up your own blood." Sarah explained before holding her chin in a thoughtful pose and murmuring, "…actually everyone was kinda freaked out."

"Oh, and they want you to officially join their team. Most people don't realize that you were just a temporary stand in of sorts." Mary explained

"They want me to be part of the team?! Permanently?!" I asked in awe. I couldn't believe I had actually done it. I had made enough of an impression to get them to want me.

"I suppose they took pity on you." Mary commented.

"Really?" I asked, worried that that was all it was.

At this Mary finally decided to look up from her book, if only to peek over it and give me a scathing glare that said, _what do you think?_

"Nevermind." I responded

"Sooooo…Should I let them in?" Sarah asked slowly.

"Yes!" I couldn't say fast enough.

Sarah waited a few seconds before saying slowly, "…So…is that a no?"

Despite having a confused face, I could tell by the twinkle in her eye that she was just kidding.

"What do you think?" I responded sarcastically

"I don't know, I couldn't tell what you said." She responded with a smirk

"Just let them in!" I shouted.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I hear you." She responded before heading to the door.

She left, leaving all alone with Mary.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence, punctuated only by the sound of Mary turning a page in her book.

"So Korra." She finally said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" I responded, turning to her.

"What did you learn from your little adventure?" She asked, still not bothering to look up from her book.

"Umm…I'm not sure what you mean?" I responded. The fact was, I did know where she was going with this, I just didn't want to acknowledge it.

At this she decided to stop beating around the bush, looking up from her book again and once again giving me a glare. This one, however, was much more serious. Whereas the last one had a more friendly aspect to it, a degree of warmth and humor, this one was much colder and much more serious.

 _Don't lie to me, and more importantly, don't lie to yourself._ She told me with but a look

I gulped before looking down at the ground in shame at trying to hide from her. You can't hide from Mary, as I've learned.

"You're right." I began before sighing. Unfortunately I realized that Mary was right.

"You're always right." I continued, defeated

"Of course I am, I can't afford to be wrong." Mary responded factually, not a hint of boasting in her tone.

"When I decided to quit I was just being…" I tried to explain before stopping as I searched for the right word.

"An impudent child," Mary suggested, although with her tone it was less a suggestion and more a statement of fact.

"Yeah…yeah I guess I was." I responded solemnly

"And I'm sorry about that. I just…I've never been taught like that before. Everything else has always come so easily for me. Except air bending." I apologized before explaining myself to her.

"Every other teacher I've had has always started with teaching me the actual element, and starting with that. They've never started with these kind of…I don't know, introductory lessons." I continued

"I'm not surprised, but that's not all it is." She stated pointedly before looking at me in the eye, "Is it now?"

"…No…no it's not." I conceded before taking in another breath.

"…I was too…prideful." I admitted

"I thought as much." Mary responded with a slight nod. Not sounding haughty or arrogant, just sounding like she had been proven right.

"You've never had an instructor who was so far ahead of you in skill, made no attempt to hide it, and in no way pandered to your own pride and self-esteem." She went on to explain.

"…Yeah…something like that." I admitted.

After a minute of me trying to absorb that information Mary spoke up again.

"The reason I don't hold back is simply because you aren't a child and I refuse to treat you as such." Mary stated.

"Huh?"

"Korra, your whole life people have been treating you like the 'avatar', as some special all powerful hero or chosen one. Someone who is special, irreplaceable and better than everyone else. Basically you've received special treatment." She explained

"I…yeah…yeah I guess I have." I realized reluctantly

"Yes, and being taught in such a way can leave you with a dangerous mindset. You can begin to consider yourself to be the hero of the world. The only one who can stop what you perceive to be evil and tyranny, and you can even start to consider yourself judge, jury, and executioner." She explained again

"Essentially after being praised by all these people for too long, you start to believe the hype yourself, and that can be... _dangerous_." Mary simplified

"Yeah, I think I can understand that. So that's why you made sure to never treat me like the avatar, right? I mean, you've always treated me like just another person. Yeah, sure, a person with potential, but just a teenage girl notheless." I responded.

"And…I thank you for that, and I'm sorry for acting like a spoiled brat. You were right, you had no obligation to help me. I'm not entitled to your help just because I'm the avatar." I apologized

"Well, since you apologized I suppose you're not beyond hope after all." She acknowledged. When I looked back at her she was once again reading her book, but this time she had a twinkle of mirth in her eyes.

At that moment Sarah opened the door, letting in both Mako and Bolin.

The second she did Mary buried her head in her book even more, concealing her face from the brothers.

"Mika, you're not dead!" Bolin exclaimed happily, running over to me bead to try and hug me.

He was promptly stopped by his brother yanking back by his collar.

"Bolin, she was brought in for _broken ribs_. How is you hugging her going to help with that?" He chastised.

"Oh…right….my bad" Bolin said apologetically.

"Thanks for keeping him from crushing me, Mako." I thanked him in response.

"No problem." He acknowledged somewhat sheepishly, his earlier confidence and anger gone upon seeing my wounded form once more.

"H-how are you holding up?" He asked, unable to look me in the eyes. I couldn't really tell why. Was it guilt? Was it shame? Was it fear?

"Alright, I suppose, considering I almost died and I didn't even know it." I admitted

"Wait, you didn't?" Mako asked, confused and surprised.

"Yeah, we kinda thought you had some idea how bad a state you were in, and just ignored it for our sakes." Bolin explained

"Oh." I said simply, answering their question for them.  
"…No, actually, I thought all I had was a broken rib or two, not six, and no internal bleeding." I explained

"So…you had no idea that you were suffering from severe internal bleeding?" Mako asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I mean, I could feel myself getting weaker, and I could tell that I didn't really have much time left before I didn't have enough strength left to fight, so I wanted to wrap things up quickly." I explained

"Yeah, but the way you fought at the end there, right before you passed out…I've never seen anyone else fight like that. How did you do that?" Bolin asked, in awe of my abilities.

Receiving this praised helped fan the flames of my confidence, and with its resurgence I decided to open my mouth again.

"Well, I am kind of amazing like that." I said prideful.

Mako raised a brow and said somewhat wearily, "Well, I guess if you're okay enough to boast you _are_ fine."

"Wait, I'm a little confused though, why did you hold back through most of the fight though? I mean, not that I'm not grateful or anything, but you could have started destroying them earlier on." Bolin asked

"Er…well…I'm….I'm not entirely sure myself. For most of the fight the pain from my injuries was crippling, but right at the end I just kinda dug deep and remembered what my teachers taught me." I admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of my head as I did so.

"Your teachers?" Mako asked, obviously about to go somewhere with this, but his brother got there before he did.

"I thought you said it was because you're awesome?" Bolin practically pouted, somewhat distraught over the revelation that I had just forgotten to apply what I learned.

"Hey, considering how well she applied what little she learned so well, and so effectively, I'm willing to say that she's pretty fucking awesome." Sarah defended with a grin.

Mako, apparently, was able to connect the dots.

"…Wait…are you saying that _she's_ one of your teachers?" He exclaimed, pointing to Sarah in surprise and disbelief.

"ummm." I said, freezing up. I didn't really know where to go from here with this. I mean, did Sarah want to reveal that she was teaching me stuff. Did she want us to reveal that I was the avatar?

I had no idea what to do next, so instead I just froze. Fortunately, Mary picked up the slack.

"Yes, she is." Mary answered factually, not discernible emotion able to be ascertained from her tone of voice, and since she was hiding her face in her book it was impossible to discern her intentions from there either.

"…ummmmm….who are you?" Bolin asked after a while. Based on Mako's face he was thinking the same thing. Apparently they hadn't met Mary yet, let alone notice she was in here with us.

"Inconsequential to you at this moment." She coldly replied.

" _Okaaaaaaayyyyy_." Bolin responded warily, not entirely sure how to react to that. Mako, however, did.  
"Mika, who is this?" He asked, pointing at the person in question.

"She's….well she's my other mentor right now. In fact, you could say that she's my primary mentor." I admitted somewhat nervously, worried how Mary would react to that, but when she did nothing, I continued with greater confidence.

"Without her, I probably wouldn't have been able to fight as well as I did in there." I explained

"Really?!" Bolin said excitedly, looking at Mary in awe.

"So, what, are you saying she taught you everything you know or something?" Mako asked, much calmer than his brother.

At that Mary couldn't help but snort in amusement, something obscenely rare considering how unladylike it was.

"No. I just recently met Mary and she started to kind of…mentor me, I guess, in bending. However, during the match I was in so much pain from my ribs that I wasn't able to really apply anything I learned in the match. Sarah taught me how to manage pain, which I remembered, and once I overcame the agonizing pain of having my ribcage in pieces, I was able to actually fight back properly." I explained

"So…you're saying that you could do what you did at the end of the match on a regular basis. The only reason you didn't is because you were injured." Mako summarized.

"Yeah, pretty much. Compared to Mary those guys were chumps. If she hadn't softened me up for them, then I would have had no problem wiping them."

"Well….in that case I'm really glad you're on our team" Bolin said

"Wait…you really want me on your team?" I asked

"Well Yeah! Why wouldn't we?" He asked

"Cause I kind of made a mess out of the match at first. I almost cost us the match." I countered

"Yeah, that may be true, but you were injured. Plus, in the end you won the match for us _despite_ those injuries. I'm not sure we could have won it without you, even _if_ Hasook was there." Mako said

"Sides, you're _way_ better than him in keeping up team morale. Hasook was a _huge_ drag. Plus, unlike him, you don't suck!" Bolin added.

"Really?" I asked on more time.

" _Jesus_ , Mika, just join their goddamn team already. Stop pussyfooting around, it so weird when you do it." Sarah said, encouraging me in her own special way.

"Well, in that case, I'll join the Fire Ferrets-" I began to say

"Wait, _Ferrets_?" Sarah asked incredulously

"… _Yeah_?" Bolin asked not seeing the problem

"…

…

…The Fuck is fire ferret?" Sarah asked after a moment of silence in that oh-so sweet tone of hers.

The rest of us just ignored her question and got back to what we were saying.

"So….as I was saying, I would be happy to join." I said, accepting their offer to join their team.

"Great!" Bolin exclaimed in joy.

"Perfect." Mako agreed, holding out a hand for me to shake.

When I did I spoke up again.

"There's just one thing." I began, taking a deep breath as I braced myself for the consequences sure to come as a result of my actions. But I needed to do this.

Bolin, Mako, and Sarah expressed various forms of confusion, not seeing where I was going with this.

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you…are you going where I think you're going?"

"…My name's not Mika….It's Korra."

* * *

 _(A/n: Warning, minor gore and horror themes inbound. Also, if you want mood music I recommend some type of ominous music, like "O Death", either the Jen Titus or Until Dawn version.)_

 **? pov**

… **.**

… **.**

… **.**

… **.**

… **.**

Darkness

….

….

….

….

I was surrounded by darkness

I was _bathed_ in it.

It's all I could see.

All I could _taste._

All I could _smell_.

All I could _hear._

And all I could _feel_.

Darkness was all there was, it was my entire existence at this moment.

And then it wasn't.

Suddenly a pale white light came in from behind me.

My world suddenly became painted with shades of black, grey, and white. Shapes came into being as definition was born. Finally, I could see the world around me as it was birthed from shadow.

I wish I couldn't.

Finally being able to see terrifies me, and I don't know why. I don't know what's happening, and I don't know where I am.

I'm in a house. Nearly everything is covered in darkness save for that which is bathed in pale light in front of me. I glance behind me to see what the light is, to see the sole source of light in this dark world. To my surprise, it's not the sun in the sky, but a moon.

An enormous full moon is hanging in the black sky, the only source of light in the world right now. I look out the window it's shining through to see the landscape before me. Spires and towers rise up in the shadow of the moon.

As the shapes slowly begin to come together I begin to realize that it's not just a random collection of spires, but a city.

 _But why is the city dark?_ I ask myself.

As far as I knew even at night cities were bathed in light from lightbulbs. But no, this city was dark. As if it was dead. There wasn't the hustle bustle normally associated with a city, just silence and stillness.

Then I heard a scream in the distance.

Then another

Then another

And that's when I realized, I wasn't in a dead city,

I was in a _dying_ city, and I was right in the middle of its murder.

That's when I heard a sound of….something coming from another room in the build.

I could hear it get closer, and closer.

Finally it burst through the door to the room and collapsed onto the ground. I don't know what it was, but it looked like it was in agonizing pain. It was still bathed in shadow, so I couldn't see any specific features on it. All I could see was that it was twitching and nothing seemed to be in the right place. Spikes jutted out from it at odd angles, and lumps on it appeared to by pulse. It was breathing harshly, and roughly. As if each breath was a struggle. Its breathing slowed and I noticed something, something that stood out from everything else in this world of grey.

Red.

Red was slowly leaking out from its body, covering the floor in a slowly growing pool.

A pool of blood.

Whatever it was, it was dying, and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Then I saw it.

I saw one of it's eyes on what might have been it's head. It was white with a black dot in the center, and…

It was looking at me.

It looked like it was desperately trying to tell me something just by looking at me, but I couldn't understand. Whatever it was, it was terrifying. I could barely breathe as my heart thundered in my chest. My blood ran cold and sweat poured from my body. I wanted to run, to get away from here, to **move** , but I was frozen.

Then I could hear something else and I looked up from the dying mass of flesh and blood, and saw the cause of this fear. I saw what was killing this city. They were three shadowy silhouettes that were there…but…they weren't. The shimmered and vibrated, as if they weren't entirely in this reality. They were human shaped, two legs, two arms, and a head, but had absolutely no details on them.

They were the shadow-men.

Apostles of darkness, disciples of the abyss, followers of the void, and students of death. They had no souls, and only sought to sow the seeds of chaos, violence, and hatred.

And they were here for me.

I stared at them, frozen in fear, unable to move as they slowly _glided_ across the floor silently. When one of them got to the dying beast, it picked it up. There was the sound of whimpering, vaguely sounding like pleading, but they only served to feed the monster as it pulled. Soon the sounds of ripping, and tearing joined the pleading and I noticed as the bright red blood began to fall from its back. Soon shadow tendrils burrowed their way through the creature's back, before bending back around.

They formed shadowy claws as they pulled. Slowly, but surely, meat, bone, and sinew fell to its strength as it ripped the creature in two. The creature beat and clawed at the shadow man in a desperate bid to save itself, but it was fruitless.

It shrieked and howled in pain as its body gave way to the shadow-man's power.

Finally, with an explosive snap, its body lost. The two pieces of its body were thrown into the two sides of the room, smashing into the walls with a wet _**splat**_ as blood exploded from the corpse, painting them red with blood.

The shadow-man that ripped the body in half was bathed in the red blood, but slowly the blood seemed to…seep into its body, as if it was absorbing the blood into its body. It joined the other two shadow men who were standing in front of me, surrounding me and blocking any hope of escape.

Soon a thin red line appeared on their blank faces. It widened and spread before curling upwards into a grin. Little streams of blood began to dribble from their mouths, the only feature on their body, and roll down their bodies.

As they began to move closer I realized I _needed_ to get away, not matter how much it hurt. I couldn't afford to let them get me, because I knew it would lead to a fate worse than death. So I did the only thing I could.

I turned around, and jumped through the window.

Fortunately I was strong enough to break through it and I was simply on the first floor. Unfortunately I landed on the broken shards of glass, which caused me to bleed from my bare feet. As I looked at my bleeding feet I noticed that my skin was the same tan color it normally was, as opposed to the shades of black and white everything except blood was.

But it didn't matter.

I needed to get away, I needed to _live_.

So I ran.

I ran as hard and as fast as I could.

I ran into the dark streets, covered in shadow from the towering monoliths above me. Then I ran into an alley, hoping it could protect me, that the maze of corridors would confuse them and keep me safe.

I ran through the twisting alleys and backstreets. Plunging myself deeper and deeper into the labyrinth in the city. My heart pounded blood through my body as I pushed myself harder and harder. My lungs _burned_ in pain as I tried to inhale generous amounts of the life giving air to fuel me to greater speeds. My legs cried in agony as I continued to pound my bare, bleeding, and eviscerated feet into the pavement.

I couldn't stop, because I knew that the moment I did, I was dead.

Finally the alleys gave way to a clear lot surrounded by towering buildings that soared above me, bathing the clearing in shadow. There wasn't an entrance straight in front of me, so I frantically looked around for an exit.

I looked to my left, and saw what looked like an exit. When I ran to I found no escape, to my horror.

I found a shadow-man. He stood there, slowly walking toward me with that bloody grin on his face. I spun around, hoping to find another way out.

I sprinted to the other side of the lot, seeing an exit there, but by the time I was halfway there I could see another shadow-man there, calmly walking toward me.

Turning back around I tried to see if I could go back the way I came.

I couldn't

From the central exit poured out several shadow-men.

As I looked around I saw that I was becoming surrounded by them. I backed up before bumping into the wall of the building behind me.

I began to cry as the realization dawned on me.

There was no escape.

I would die this night.

So I did the only thing I could.

I got on my knees as tears fell from my face, splashing on my bare legs, wetting my tan thighs as the traced wet paths down them to the ground.

I brought my hands together in front of me and I began to pray. I prayed to all the spirits, the gods, goddesses, to anything that would hear me.

I begged.

I pleaded.

I _just wanted to live_.

It didn't matter how, it didn't matter what I had to do. I just wanted to survive, I just wanted to live.

Just then, the moon finally peeked of the buildings, and began to shine down directly onto this lot. It hung there, like an ominous eye, just waiting.

Then…

Then everything changed.

Slowly, at the edges, it began to turn red. Then it grew, and grew, and grew, until the whole moon was red.

Blood red.

It had become a blood moon.

It shined down with a crimson light that bathed the area in red. Gone was the black and white world, only to replace it everything with varying shades of red.

The Shadow-men were still darker than the darkest night, but everything else…

Then, I felt a…presence…behind me. Before I could do anything I felt it press itself against my back, and wrap its arms around me. I looked down to see a woman's arms around my chest, hugging me. The most startling thing about them, however, was that they were blue.

Deep, pure blue.

As blue as the ocean, as if the red light of the blood moon didn't affect her.

I then felt her head rest on my shoulders, but I was too frightened to turn and look at her.

She whispered something in my ear, but I couldn't tell what it was. I couldn't understand what she was saying.

Then I felt a small pain start and the base of my back, before growing in intensity and size as it spread to the rest of my body.

As it did, another pair of blue arms came from her and began to wrap around my front.

Not only did she have ocean blue skin, but she had four arms.

As she continued to whisper, and the pain continued to spread, the second pair of arms came up and began to slowly cover me face.

As this happened I saw the shadow-men slowly make there way toward me, heedless of what was happening to me.

I felt the pain slowly crawl to my brain and me heart at the same time as her hands reached my face.

As they covered my eyes the pain reached it's most intense as it spike in my brain and my heart, as my world turned to darkness.

And once again, I was plunged into the abyss.

And then…

Then it was over.

...

...

My head cleared and my eyes flew open as I bolted upright from my bed, both my heart and my head pounding.

I was drenched in sweat, hyperventilating as I tried to calm down.

 _It was just a dream_. I told myself, trying to calm myself down as I got out of bed.

I walked over to the mirror to make sure I was okay.

I looked into it and was reassured by what I saw.

My long brown hair reached to below my breasts, and I could see my sapphire blue eye through a parting in it. I brushed aside the rest of my hair, unveiling the rest of my tan face.

And unveiling my scars.

I sighed in relief as I saw that I was still the same as I was yesterday.

The same thin red scar in the center of my forehead. The same silver scar curving in a crescent around and through my left eye.

My blood red eye.

I sighed again as I was forced to remember the events of that fateful, horrific night.

I can't actually remember what _really_ happened that night, nor can I remember anything before it.

All I know is that on that night, the Night of the Blood Moon, I lost everything I had.

My house.

My parents.

My memories.

The only thing I have left is a shirt found on my blood drenched body, and my name they found on the shirt.

 _Kali_.

That's all I have left from my original life.

Everything else is gone.

Six years of my life, just…gone.

All since that hellish night 12 years ago...

 _Not again..._

* * *

 _A/n: AH cliffhangers._

 _Always fun._

 _Anyway, this chap is up a bit late 'cause I'm lazy. It should have been up yesterday, and it could have been up Tuesday._

 _buuuuuuuuuut..._

 _Whatever._

 _I just want to say though, I **loved** writing the last part of the chapter. It helped me unleash the more sadistic bastard part of me. _

_So, you know..._

 _..._

 _...Expect more_

 _More importantly, this is the beginning of a major turning point in the...book...thing...whatever it's called._

 _It introduces major characters and a **major** plot point, a major point of difference from the show._

 _I was quite proud of it when I came up with it, it kind of made everything else fall into place, as well as introduce new things I wouldn't have been able to implement otherwise._

 _But to basically spoil you guys about what it is...kinda..._

 _remember how in the show every body had some sort of really bad shit happen to them thanks to the Agni-Kais or some such gang using fire, or just general shit that involved chaos?_

 _Remember how that happened at about the same time?_

 _ish?_

 _Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllll..._

 _Now it **did**_ _happen at the same time..._

 _..._

 _and it wasn't the Agni-Kais_

 _..._

 _..._

 _and they gave it a name._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _...And it was a **lot** worse._

 _But yeah, more latter, potentially this week._

 _Maybe._

 _We'll see._

 _And finally, if you're noting a difference in the writing style of this chapter and the last one compared to the earlier ones it's because I wrote Scenes 1-7 first, then 9-16, then 17-26 and then I went back, posted 1-7, wrote 8 then decided 9 needed more and the end result was 9 becoming new 9 and new 10, giving me a total of **27** written chapters instead of **26**. So yeah. _

_that being said..._

 _..._

 _... scenes 19-27...aren't...exactly...supposed to happen in that order..._

 _..._

 _...Kinda._

 _It's complicated, but suffice to say there's hopefully going to be around 16 other scenes between 17 and what is now labelled 18._

 _But..._

 _Yeah._

 _Any way this and the next couple chapters are going to make up the episode "Darkness", and all will have that themed title, and that episode does not take place in the show._

 _None of the stuff that happens happened in the show, it's all new ground._

 _And the ground going forward will be ground that is similar, but also different._

 _The only question is... **how** different._

 _Even I don't know._

 _When I started writing this story Amon, who is still a very important character even if he hasn't technically appeared yet, was going to die at the end._

 _That...is no longer the case._

 _I have...different plans for him and his people._

 _Much different._

 _And don't **even** ask me about pairings. _

_Sarah's gone through, like, three and I'm still not sure what I'm going to stick with._

 _I start writing her going one way then I go_

 _"Well...Fuck, that doesn't make sense."_

 _So then I have to change it._

 _And that's how it goes for everybody, so **don't ask**._

 _Hell._

 _At this rate I might have Sarah fucking Jinora._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Actually..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _...That..._

 _...That might happen..._

 _..._

 _hmm_

 _Whatever_

 _more soon._


	10. Scene 10: I Met Them in a Dark Alley

Scene 10, Chap 10

I Met Them in a Dark Alley

 **Kali pov**

 _Not again_. I think to myself.

It's been years since I had that dream.

It's a shadow of the memory of the Night of the Blood Moon. The night I lost everything.

It was a night so steeped in blood it could be considered a natural disaster, if only you didn't look at the cause of death. It's said that everyone lost something that night. That no one in the city wasn't affected by the…slaughter is the only word for it really.

In an attempt to push those thoughts out of my head I get dressed in my clothes. A simple red dress over a blue shirt, with a navy blue jacket over top, and I braid my hair, something that helps me calm down a bit after my nightmare. As usual I braid it so that the hair on my right and back of my head forms up into the right half of my braid, which starts at the back of my head and goes over my shoulder, laying in front me. There it connects with the left half of the braid, which is made from my front and left side of my head of hair, which comes down over the left half of my face, head, and my forehead, before going around my neck to meet up with the rest of the braid.

I go into the kitchen, where I see adopted mother eating breakfast, with a portion for me on the table too.

Mom was one of the ones targeted that night, and she probably would have died too, if it wasn't for the fact that she had a powerful old friend of her staying with her that night. He was a powerful General in the military, and apparently he and mom have been friends since they were teenagers. Apparently he didn't have a good feeling about that night, so he took precautions to keep the people he cared about safe, including hanging out with my mother in a thinly veiled attempt to guard her.

That's not to say she can't fight or anything, it's just that the attackers had certain advantages she didn't, ones that tipped the balance in their favor. Advantages He was more than capable of utilizing for himself.

Well...

That... _and_ he's one of the most powerful, intelligent, and brutal fighters I've ever seen.

In the end, he was right. That night turned out to be the bloodiest in Republic City history

The morning after the two of them went out into the streets to try and cleanup the city. Whether that meant saving survivors, or taking care of people hoping to take advantage of this situation.

And that's when she found me. I was just curled up in a ball in some alley, crying my eyes out with only a shirt on me.

Well…

That and the blood.

I was absolutely _covered_ in blood.

I had no memory of who I was, where I was, or what was going on. I was just cold, wet, alone, and in pain.

Mom picked me up and took me to the hospital, though in my hysterical state I refused to be separated from the only person to show me kindness. Over time I eventually grew on her and she ended up adopting me.

Looking at her I briefly remember the somewhat stark differences between us. She has very distinct earth kingdom looks, with her paler skin with a slight tan and her emerald green eyes. I, on the other hand, look very water tribe, what with my darker, more tanned skin, and my sapphire blue eye.

But when I'm with mom I feel less self-conscious about my scars, it's actually something that helped me to bond with her when I was young. Like me, she has scars of her own, and she got more on the Night of the Blood Moon.

She has two scars on her left cheek, extending down diagonally to her jaw, which she had before that night, and after that night she got a scar extending vertcally down over her left eye, kinda like mine, although hers is just a straight line, not curved like mine. She also has numerous scars across her body and, like me, most of which are from that night.

When I say she survived that night I mean barely. In reality she shouldn't have been out walking around the city when she found me, but I'm glad she did.

She usually wears an eyepatch over her left eye when she's at work to look more intimidating. It was a habit started after she actually _did_ have to wear an eyepatch after the Night of the Blood Moon, when her eye was healing. She found that people actually found her _more_ intimidating with her eyepatch, and that her one eyed death-glares where much more effective. After that it stuck, even when she didn't need it anymore.

After all, most people didn't know that.

Although at home or among friends she doesn't usually wear it, so right now it was off.

She looked up from her breakfast as I entered the kitchen, I could smell the cooked meat and eggs, reminding me that I was starving. She was in her uniform, as usual, and was likely going to have to leave soon.

"Good morning Kali." She said in her usual gruff tone, one that I had long since gotten comfortable with.

Then she took notice of what I was wearing and said, "What are you wearing?" accusingly

I looked down at my clothes, trying to figure out what was wrong with what I was wearing, but the thoughts stirred up by my nightmare and my immense hunger made it hard to think.

"Uh…clothes?" I responded groggily as I sat at the table.

"Did you forget that you're coming with me to work today? You're going to be instructing the water bending officers on proper healing technique." She answered.

"Oh right, I forgot, sorry." I said, still tired, realizing that I would need to put on my uniform too. Actually now that I think about it I don't know why I didn't put on my uniform anyway, I didn't really have a reason not to.

She took a closer look at me and bluntly asked, "What's wrong?"

I considered lying, I didn't exactly want to bring it up again, but seeing how my mom is a detective, and more importantly, my mom, I doubted it would work.

"…I had the nightmare again." I admitted softly after a moment of silence

"Wha-again?!" She said, surprised, "You haven't had those nightmares in years." She muttered

"Yeah, I know." I said softly.

"You're not going into work with me today." She said firmly after considering it for a second.

"What! But I was going to teach your medical trainees about proper medical technique with water bending and stuff!" I cried in objection. I didn't want mom to have to hold me back just because I had a bad dream.

"Not anymore. We both know how you are after you're nightmares." She said pointedly

"Besides, most girls would love to get out of having to go to work." She said, going back to her breakfast

"Yeah, well most girls aren't me." I say, pouting slightly, "I was really looking forward to this, you know how much I wanted to teach."

"I'm still wary about having you teach while you're still so young."

"I can do it! I already went through medical school like a breeze, and I want to teach others who can really make use of the skills I learned. I'm just one person, but if I can teach your water benders how to be great medics then they can save lives, and not just catch criminals." I said passionately, it was my idea to get mom's water benders and form them into a core of field medics, and it was my idea to try and train them. I was really proud of it, especially when mom agreed with me.

"It's not you who I doubt. It's my numbskull officers that I'm worried about. I think they'll just discount everything you say because you're just a teenager. Some of them will probably be very …difficult." She explained

"Shouldn't they know better than to mess with the Chief's daughter?" I asked with a smirk, I knew many of the people at the station, they knew me, and they knew what would happen if they disrespected their boss's daughter.

"Yes, most do, but I recently got a new batch of recruits from the academy, and many of them are cocky green water benders. And many of _them_ are young cocky men. And none of them know who you are, who you are to me, or what happens when you get on my bad side." She explained, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Oh." I said as my face dropped.

I knew by now that braking in new recruits was something of a bittersweet time for mom and her officers. On the one hand the recruits would get into all kinds of trouble thanks to their ignorance, and many of the cocky ones would become an annoyance for everyone thanks to their showboating. On the other hand giving them their due punishment was something everyone enjoyed watching the chief do. Getting chewed out by mom was kind of their initiation ritual.

"Well don't chew them out without me, it only gets better every year." I asked

"I can't control their stupidity." She countered

"Please." I begged

She sighed before saying, "I'll try."

"Thanks." I said happily before hugging her and going into my room with my breakfast.

* * *

 **Sarah pov**

So after Korra's little reveal to the bending brothers, which was hilarious by the way, she had officially signed on with the team. That being said, she didn't reveal everything. She didn't tell the brothers the whole story about us, which I doubt they would have believed anyway. So all they know is that Korra is the avatar and she ran away with our help from her prison in the Fortress of Solitude.

The best part was when she suggested that Mary train the entire team.

Her rational was that considering how powerful she was after a few weeks of training with her, imagine how powerful the team would be if the _all_ were trained under her.

At first, the boys thought that was great, they would get to be trained by someone could kick the _avatar's_ ass.

Then…

Hehe…

…Then came the first training day.

It was painful to _watch_.

That being said, I couldn't look away.

Since Mary already knew how Korra fought she was done with the 'testing faze' that Mary had for her.

The bending brothers…

…not so much.

The best part was being able to watch Mary destroy the brothers with Korra.

I could tell that she really needed this. After all the savage tormenting that Mary had unleashed on her, she need to see others go through that same pain. In a way it proved to her that Mary truly wasn't discriminating in any way shape or form.

Mary was just being…Mary.

That's just how Mary do.

She doesn't particularly care about status and titles unless it had an actual impact on the issue she was concerned with. She was obsessed with efficiency and effectiveness. As far as she was concerned when it came to Pro-bending Korra, Mako, and Bolin held the same base value, regardless of Korra's avatar status.

The 'testing faze' was to find Mako and Bolin's strengths and weakness. To find the best way to weave the three of them into an invincible team. And I had no doubt that she would be able to do it.

The only problem came up when it came to, well, me.

Despite the fact that Korra wasn't under Mary's strict training right this second, the fact was, she had a job now, and one she still had to train fairly often for.

I, on the other hand, didn't.

And that….

…That was something Mary sought to correct.

Mary, the multitasking witch she was, was somehow able to perform three jobs, keep up with Korra's training, _and_ still have enough focus to constantly badger me about finding a job

So…I tried.

So, at Mary's behest I searched for a job in the Marble Crown.

Well…

Searching for a 'job' might have been a bit of a stretch.

In reality I was searching for a job in all the wrong places.

Dark alleys at night and all the darkest parts of the area where the shadiest men lurked.

I wasn't looking for a job, no, I was looking at the darkest parts of the area to see what I could dig up. Kicking the nest of hornets to see what would come out and fight.

You see, since I couldn't train with Korra anymore I lost that outlet for my more violent urges. As a result they built up in me, and have been for some time. While fighting with Korra had helped relieve some stress, it wasn't exactly the best at it. The fact was, I had to hold back too much with Korra. I couldn't go all out for fear of seriously hurting her, possibly even killing her.

And that's not even including some of my darker desires.

So in the end, sparing with Korra was simply a way to relieve a portion of the stress, not actually help get rid of it in its entirety. I knew that if I didn't take care of it soon it would bleed into the rest of my life.

I would become more aggressive, meaner, and more savage. It wasn't pretty, and Mary could already tell that it was starting.

Hell, if I didn't resolve my _little issue_ soon by the time I spared with Korra I _would_ kill her.

So instead I decided to look for a fight in the darkest parts of the Marble Crown. I didn't care I how I got it done, I wanted to put some asshole in the hospital.

Specifically, an asshole, and not any random schmuck. I may be itching for a fight, but I don't want to go terrorizing the city.

Not if I can help it.

Unfortunately, for some reason I wasn't able to find anyone, no one wanted to mug me, beat me up, shake me down, nothing. It was really disappointing.

At one point I thought someone was about to try to mug me, I could see the mugger coming towards me and I could just tell that's what his intent was, I could feel it in my soul. Unfortunately I was unable to hide my enthusiasm at the prospect of him trying to mug me, and it showed on my face with my trademark evil grin. I guess he saw the malevolent smile filled with dark thoughts aimed his way and decided to rethink his plan.

Yeah.

I scared off a mugger by smiling at him.

So after a few days of this I finally struck gold.

 _Well_... it's more like I found the gold striking someone else.

* * *

 **Kali pov**

After mom left, and after breakfast, I feel another wave exhaustion come over me, probably because I didn't actually get much rest thanks to my nightmare. As a result I wake up again late in the day. I know mom probably won't get back until late at night thanks to the new rumors about some kind of supremacist cult.

Despite my nap the memories brought up from my nightmare are still fresh in my mind. So I decide to go to one of the only people who I know can help make me feel better since mom's busy. I decide to head over to my old friend Susanoo's house.

Susanoo's the son of the Mom's General friend who saved her life, and he's been kind of like an older brother for me for as long as I can remember. Then again, he _is_ one of the first people I met after that night, making him one of the first people I can actually remember seeing.

After getting dressed I head outside and look out to see the vista before me.

It's late enough in the day that the sun is setting in the sky. Since we live on a hill that overlooks much of the city I have an unobstructed view of the city's skyline. I can see the massive new skyscrapers rising up in the distance. I can see the crowds of people and cars moving through the various districts like blood pumping through the body. All of it thrown on to the beautiful background of a sky painted various shades of maroon, gold, violet, pink, and many more. The beautiful view provided by living in the Marble Crown is as stunningly majestic as it is a truly cruel lie.

The fact is, as beautiful as this city is, it's also rotten to the core. It can be saved, but most people are just content to let the status quo rule. They're content to let the gangs have their way with the city, to let the corrupt and weak politicians allow the city to choke and die. As long as it doesn't directly interfere with them, they're just content to allow the poor, weak, and vulnerable to drown under the unending waves of filth that this city spews out constantly.

I shake my head, pushing these thoughts outside my head. Thinking like that won't get me anywhere. I'm just getting so dark and pessimistic because of what the nightmares brought up. They remind me of the darker times in the city. Instead I endeavor to think of what _I_ can do to change things.

 _But you're just one person, what could you possibly do to a whole city of filth? Do you really think they can really be saved? Or are they just better off being purged?_ My subconscious tells myself, bringing me back into pit of darkness in my soul.

Shaking my head again I think in response _Bad subconscious. Bad!_ In an attempt to cheer myself up.

I sigh in resignation

 _This is why I need to see Susanoo. He's closest and he's always been able to cheer me up._ I think again, resolving to finally get moving towards his house.

Soon I'm in the middle of the crowds of people swarming through the city. Thanks to some incident that involved some kind of police chase my normal route is blocked by reconstruction work, so I take a detour. As I walk this unfamiliar path I can feel my headache growing stronger and stronger. It's pounding in my cranium, coming in waves, like a massive bell is ringing inside. The roar of the crowds around me doesn't help, but I do my best to block it out.

As I push farther and farther my vision begins to blur and I start feel waves of nausea coming over me.

As darkness begins to creep into the side of my vision I can feel a pressure come over me.

I see something dark move in the corner of my eye. I swing my head around to try and see what it was, but there's nothing there but more people just walking around going about their business.

I turn my head back in front of me as I march forward, but I'm startled as I catch a glimpse of something I never expected to see in the distance.

It's one of the shadow-men from my nightmare.

My breath catches in my throat, my heart races.

 _No, not here!_ I think in a panic _NO! You're NOT real! Yo-you can't be._

Just as quick as I spotted him he disappears from my sight. I spin around trying to spot them, but I can't see him again.

 _It was just my imagination, calm down. It's just because of the nightmares. You're okay. You're safe._ I think in an effort to calm myself down, to no avail.

 _Yeah, just keep telling yourself that._ My subconscious mocks me, _that'll keep the shadow-men away for sure._

 _Shut up!_ I shoot back before realizing what I'm doing.

 _Great I'm crazy enough that I'm having argument with my subconscious._

As I press forward despite my deteriorating mental and physical state, I can't help but feel paranoia fill me. As much as I tell myself that the shadow-men aren't real, the fact is I don't truly believe it. I can't help but see one in every person I see. The pressure of the crowd of potential nightmares around me is overwhelming.

 _I need to get away! I need to escape! I need to breathe!_ I think in a panic as the overwhelming pressure becomes suffocating.

I spot an alley ahead of me. Seeing that it heads off the beaten path I decide it's the escape that I've been looking for and I make a beeline straight there. I plow my way through the crowd, desperately seeking to get away from all this, to get someplace to myself, to get somewhere I can breathe. Normally I'd be a lot smarter about this, but right now….right now I can't even think about anything other than getting away from this crowd of people.

The alley feel like a beacon in the darkness, calling out to me as the as the only island of safety in the sea of darkness that surrounds me. As I race there I plow through several people, who quickly become disgruntled at my actions, but I pay them no heed. Instead I charge forward to safety. The whole way there I keep seeing glimpses of the shadow-men in the crowd. Never for more than a second, and never in the same place twice.

By the time I get to the entrance of the alley I'm in a full blown panic, my heart thundering, my breath short, and my mind a storm of fear and terror. As much as I tell myself it's not real, it doesn't help. I can't help but feel like I'm running for my life. I run deeper and deeper into the labyrinth that is the depths of the city. Away from the relative safety of the street the bowels of the city between the towering buildings is a maze.

Despite the normally winding, confusing, and twisting nature of the alleys of the city, I feel like I know exactly where I'm going. I can't shake the feeling like I've been here before, like I've done this before. I run, and run, and run. My body screaming at me to stop, but my mind telling me that to do that is to accept death. As I round another I see something that gives me pause.

I'm in a clearing, caged in by the towering building surrounding me.

 _I…I've been here before. I know it!_ I think. My subconscious screaming at me that I'm in danger.

As I struggle to figure out the puzzle I walk up the wall of the building in front of me where a dark stain remains in the center of the otherwise tan wall. Feeling a shiver down the back of my neck I look up and am horrified by what I see.

Hanging in the sky is a blood red moon in a black, cloudless sky.

 _This…this is just like my nightmares! It's, NO! It can't be! That was just a dream! It has to be!_ I think to myself, _needing_ for this all to be a dream.

Then I hear something behind me, something that sounds like…like….laughter. Cold, sinister, and dark, laughter. My blood runs cold and I scream to myself inside my mind that it's not real. That if I don't look behind me then they won't exist, but unfortunately my body isn't listening. On instinct I turn around and seem the horrors of my nightmares come to life.

There, in front of me, blocking all possible exits, are the shadow-men.

They were sitting here waiting for me.

* * *

 **Sarah Pov**

I was walking through the winding alleys of the city, looking for trouble in all the right places. It was nighttime and the lights of the city shone through the cracks between the buildings, and what few windows in this area still had lights on, creating long shadows that bathed most of the area in darkness. I was on the outskirts of the Marble Crown looking for any signs of trouble. I had heard that there was increased gang activity in the area, why, I don't know. But I'm going to find out.

I looked in the sky and I saw the full moon shining down, bathing everything in a strong light, combined with what few city lights were on it was enough to see where I was going, but not enough to really see the city. It made this area look nicer, the darkness hid the piles of garbage and filth of the area. The smells of the city filled my nose, and the city was unusually quiet. That's not to say it as really quiet, but compared to the almost un-ending hustle and bustle of cities I was used to, this was almost a silent calm.

That calm was shattered by the sudden shriek of a girl in danger and pain. It sounded like it came from a few blocks away, and I run as fast as I could to the sound. I pushed myself as hard as I could, pushing off from the ground with enough force to crack and fracture the pavement. I reached out with my senses to "see" where the scream came from, the design of the alleys and buildings undoubtedly twisted and contorted the sound, making that a less reliable source, only a good place to start. Reaching out I "saw" where she was, and I altered my course accordingly.

I slowed down as I reached the alley that lead into the area the scream came from. As I walked in the shadowed corridor I reached out and felt the area I was walking into before I could clearly see it. It was a large open yard completely cut off from the streets by the buildings surrounding it.

In order to get there you would have to walk through the winding alley and corridors until you reached it. If you didn't know where you were going you would easily find yourself lost. There were several alleys leading out of the yard, not just the one I was in, but I couldn't tell what was in them all right now.

As I reached the entrance of the yard I could see that the moon hung over the place, shining down on it with it's soft pale light.. It provided a small area of light that just reached most of the yard, but stopped short of the shadows of the alleys, which allowed me to be hidden in the darkness. I looked and saw a large gang of men, probably eight to ten, standing in a crowd around something. Suddenly the crowd parted as a girl was pushed from the center to the ground.

The men were wearing similar clothes to the gang members who we had encountered earlier, indicating there gang affiliation. The girl, however, was wearing a torn red and blue coat and dress it looked like. Whatever it was, it looked like it had undergone some rough treatment as of late

She had long brown hair that hung messily from her face, cover most of it. However, I was still able to see a blue eye of hers peek out from under it.

The girl propped herself on one arm and looked fearfully at the men who were surrounding her. The leader of the group, at least the one who looked like the leader, looked down at her and said something. I couldn't make out what it was exactly, but it was probably some kind of threat or something.

The girl was absolutely shivering in terror, I could see the tears falling from her face. Everyone here knew what was going to happen next, but I was the only one who knew that it wouldn't be ten guys doing the raping, it would be one black girl, braking their bodies with a solid fisting.

So, I stepped out of the alley and made myself known to them.

"Hey ASSHOLES!" I did **Not** say.

I said, "Hey SHIT HEADS!"

I didn't know who said the other thing

Which is exactly what he was thinking.

I looked to my left, where the sound came from and found an asian guy about my age wearing a black trench coat over a dark blue shirt, and dark pants. He had long, spikey black hair that flowed over his back just past his shoulders. The most peculiar part of him was his golden eyes that locked with mine. He looked just as surprised that I was there as I was that he was there.

Then my eyes noticed the swords he carried by his belt.

We looked at each other and through some kind of silent communication through just looking at each other we saw that we were allies in this. Both warriors, noble or otherwise, here to stop an injustice from happening. We acknowledged this with a simple nod to each other before turning our attention back to the crowd of would-be gangbangers and soon to be invalids.

Our entrance had alerted the gangsters to our presence and they positioned themselves between the girl and us. The leader stepped forward from the crowd and said jokingly, "Well fellas, it looks like we got a couple of heroes here."

His compatriots laughed at what they perceived to be a joke. Personally it wasn't the first time I had been called a hero, jokingly or otherwise. I kind of did this type of thing all the time back...well back everywhere I went really.

"Why don't we teach 'heroes' that this ain't no place for a hero." The leader said, but he unintentionally reminded me of dad when he said that last part.

Dad would often say heroes were mostly bullshit, and that instead there were people brave enough to put their morals ahead of their own life and do what they thought was necessary for them. If they were truly a "hero" then they wouldn't care about being called as such.

When the gangster said that I saw all of the gangsters get into a very familiar set of stances.

 _Really? All of them? How common_ _are_ _mages here? I mean they are just fucking everywhere!_ I thought to myself as I noted how strange it was for me to keep running into all these mages.

That being said, I welcomed the challenge. Plus, like almost every mage, that would just mean that they were vulnerable up close.

I controlled my large metal bracelets, liquefying them and making them cover my fists as small gauntlets, and prepared to lunge at them before the split up.

My plan was to get up close and personal while they were still in a crowd. That would help prevent them from using their powers, not just because they would be too close to me to properly use them, but because they would be too close to each other and would have to watch out for friendly fire.

Apparently my new "friend" thought the same thing and also bent down preparing to lunge, his right hand on the handle of his sword.

I wondered if he was also a mage, but I doubted it. For some reason mages here didn't seem to use any weapons or anything with their magic. I don't know why, it would give them something to fight with in close quarters, and it would give them something to focus their magic with.

Before the mage gangsters could launch their elemental assault my "friend" and I lunged forward as one, rushing into the crowd.

I think they thought we would fight like mages too or something because they were _not_ prepared for us at all. We jumped into the crowd like two wolves onto a flock of sheep.

Well… rams

Because rams would fight back.

They would _lose_

But they would still try.

I immediately lost visual contact with my "friend" as we started the melee, but I was confident he was fine. I, on the other hand, was great.

The guy right in front of me tried to shoot a fireball at me, but I simply just spun to the side of it, dodging it effortlessly, and grabbed his outstretched arm. I launched two bullet-like punches against his outstretched arm at his elbow and his shoulder. I felt the bone buckle, fracture, and break under the immense force of my metal covered fist flying into them like a high speed sledgehammer, causing the arm to bend unnaturally.

He cried out in pain as his arm went limp and grabbed it with his other arm, doubling over in pain.

I sensed someone else behind me, lunging towards me and I twisted my body 90 degrees, causing him to fly in front of me. Before he passed me I turned my twist into a spin. Spinning on the ball of my right foot I spun and slammed my left leg into his right side, which was the side he lead with his lunge. I could feel his ribs give into my thunderous blow, I felt them crack and cave in as my shin crashed into them.

I then spun back to deal with the first guy. I grabbed him by the arm I broke, twirled around, and _slammed_ him into the second guy as hard as I could. The whole time he was just screaming in pain form being swung around like a fleshy hammer by his tortured arm. When I did I could _feel_ the bones bending and breaking from the collision.

Neither of them would be getting up for a while after that.

As the two of them crumpled into the ground in a mass of broken limbs I sensed a guy behind me trying to get me while I was vulnerable.

Too bad I wasn't

I spun around on the heel of my foot, turning 90 degrees in an instant to look at him over my shoulder. He was in the middle of throwing a basketball sized rock at me when I did.

Taking a spinning step forward I swung my right forearm into it so hard it exploded into pieces from the collision.

I barely even felt it.

Continuing my moment, I furthered the clockwise spin I had begun, and threw a thunderous left hook that smashed the poor bastard in the face like a sledge hammer. The impact sent him flying back a ways before slamming into the wall on the other side of the yard. He immediately blacked out whilst bleeding from his face rather profusely.

Now that I thought about it, I think I hit him a little _too_ hard. I don't think he ended up surviving, which isn't too surprising considering he now had a bleeding crater where his face used to be.

Normally, I should have been more concerned about that.

Normally I would have been mortified by the fact that I had killed someone with my own hands.

Buuuut…

…At the moment I was having too much fun to worry about my accidental body count.

In that moment I felt alive.

 _This_ is the shit I lived for, a real fight, not a pussy ass magic fight where two shit-heads throw magic at each other like exploding snowballs.

I lived to _feel_ my fight. I didn't just want to take my opponent down, I wanted to _feel_ them go down.

To feel it as my body broke theirs.

I liked to feel the feeling of my body waging war against theirs.

Unfortunately these people weren't very good at fighting back, which was half the fun, but it was still the most fun I've had in weeks.

I was able to look over and take a look at my "friend" during the momentary, and I mean _momentary_ , lull in combat for me.

Too most people, they would have been disturbed by what they saw.

To me?

Well…

…Frankly I was kind of used to seeing that kind of shit, it didn't even faze me.

This man in black, who I think I'll call the Black Swordsman for now, was fighting like a force of nature.

Mages here might have thought they were hot shit cause they could throw rocks and water with their weird magic. But his guy…

This guy was amazing.

No movement was wasted on flare or appearance.

Each slash,

Each lunge,

Each footstep,

Hell, each _twitch_ , had purpose.

He was a whirlwind of blood, body parts, and expert swordsmanship.

Hell, I think he was better than Mary, and she has certain…advantages most people lack.

When he fought he did so ruthlessly. That's not to say he was savage, or was looking to increase his body count.

Oh no.

I _know_ what that looked like.

No, this?

This was a warrior fighting for something he cared deeply about.

The fact was, he had killed several people. A few thrusts to the chest unleashing a small torrent of blood onto his trench coat. A couple slashes relieving a couple people of their limbs.

But.

At the same time, he hadn't killed everyone he met. Some he had simply incapacitated with a few well-placed stabs and slashes that systematically disabled them.

It was obvious to see that despite his merciless style of swordsmanship, he wasn't out for blood. He was simply trying to incapacitate them in the most efficient manner possible with all the grace of a skilled samurai. It just so happened that sometime, that meant killing them.

Frankly it reminded me of my dear sister, Mary.

So I liked him.

If he had boobs he would have looked _just_ like her.

Well, and the dark skin, but otherwise he was like a male version of Mary.

That being said, there was something….off about him.

No…

…No, off isn't the right word, it implies something is wrong with him.

No, something was different about him. I could tell there was something different about his soul compared to most humans. Something…familiar.

I couldn't place what it was, but it made him special. He _was_ human, at least in large part, I was certain about that. But that still left the infinite potential that tiny _spec_ of something special could entail.

But, me being me, I pushed that issue to the side after taking note of it. After all, I had invalids to make.

The other odd thing about him, though, was his sword. It was black. Well, dark grey, but I was having a hard time identifying what it was made of.

Swords made of such dark metals weren't exactly common, especially ones that were effective, and it didn't feel like any particular metal I had encountered before. But there was definitely some iridium, platinum, iron, and nickel in it. Which was odd because one didn't usually craft swords from those things. There was also some other special ingredients I couldn't identify.

If I remembered I would try to take a closer look at it later.

All of these thoughts went by in less than a second in real time, but by this point time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. As I snapped back into the fight I looked toward a guy on my right who was looking at me in horror at what I had just done to three of his guys in as many seconds, but I could also feel someone behind me trying to rush me, as well as someone to my left launching a rock at me.

I twisted a little in my position in order to grab the dumbass behind me attempting to go for an ambush. I figure he just thought I was a little girl and a big guy like him could just take me without wasting magic. My grab surprised him because I doubt he expected a girl, or anyone really, to be able to throw his 400 lbs. ass anywhere, but that's exactly what I did. I grabbed him and threw him into the rock that the guy to my left threw at me.

Immediately after throwing the big guy I spun around and swept the legs out from under the guy to my left. I swept his legs so fast and hard that I actually broke one of his shins in half, and fractured the other. He barely had time to look at me in terror from the ground before I kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

I turned around to look back at the guy I had thrown, who on the ground looking very confused. He was at the feet of the guy who threw the rock at me, and he looked very surprised that I had managed to throw someone so big. He quickly threw two more rocks at me, which I nimbly dodged as I rushed forward and kicked the big guy in the chest hard enough to send him flying into the earth mage's legs, causing him to fall on his face. The big guy kept flying until he slammed into the wall behind him hard enough to make an indent in the wall, the impact of which knocked him unconscious.

Meanwhile I picked up the guy who I tripped with the big guy's body by his hair and held him up in front of me so I could look him in the eyes. I looked at him, blood pouring from his broken nose, looking scared shitless as he gazed into my face which was now covered with a dark and toothy evil grin.

I was _really_ enjoying this, and he knew it.

And it scared him enough to shit his pants right there.

I decided to just stop playing with him and I just threw him into the wall, knocking him out.

As I looked around I noticed several things.

One: Everyone was on the ground unconscious or writhing in pain, my "friend" apparently done with his share of foes. I have to say, looking between our victims it's easy to see who took down who.

Mine were all either on the ground, or in the wall and still in technically one piece. It's just that that piece was basically just a pile of broken mush.

They other guy? Every last one of his guys was bleeding profusely from somewhere. Several had missing limbs, which were also bleeding, and some were just dead, and no longer bleeding.

Two: I can't count for shit. I don't know why I thought there were like eight or ten people because now that they were all on the down I could easily see that there was 14 people, including the leader.

Which brings me to three because the leader wasn't here.

I turned to my friend and asked, "Hey, where'd the boss go?"

He looked back to me, obviously coming to the same conclusion and shrugged.

"I guess he ran away" He said before turning back to the girl who had moved to huddling in the corner. She was looking at us with wide eyes and tears running down her face, shivering in complete terror. Actually, now that I took a closer look at her, I wasn't entirely sure that she was actually looking at us, she seemed like she wasn't entirely all there, and she seemed barely aware of what was going on around her.

The man walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. He looked her in the eyes and said, "Red? Red?! Snap out of it!", Trying to get her attention.

She didn't appear to respond at first so he cupped both sides of her face with his hands and shook her.

"Red! Come on, wake up!" He commanded.

He seemed to know this girl, and was very concerned for her right now. Frankly I was too, but he seemed to have a more…personal interest in her. I idly wondered if they were in some sort of relationship or something, considering the lack of any resemblance between the two that would indicate a blood relation.

Finally she appeared to snap out of whatever trance she was in as her eyes finally managed to focus on the man in front of her.

"Su-Susanoo? Wha-what are you doing here?" She asked, still trembling in fear, but she seemed both surprised and comforted by the appearance of her friend.

"The better question is what are you doing here? You mother called me today to tell me that you had the nightmare again, and we all know what that means." He said, looking at her disapprovingly.

"Yeah, I know, but I was trying to make my way to you. You always know how to cheer me up." She explained with a timid smile.

"Yeah, I do, which is why I was making my way here. I knew you would take a nap and probably wake up late in the day, like you usually do after an episode like this, so I decided to wait a bit before heading over to your place. You're lucky I was nearby, otherwise who knows what could have happened." He chided in a deeply concerned tone.

"Promise me you'll never do this again." He sternly told her, concern evident on his face.

"I-I'm sorry for making you do this. I don't know what I was thinking. I just…I don't know, was drawn here." She tried to explain

"Drawn here?" He repeated skeptically

"I don't know how to explain it! I never do! You know that!" She defended, almost hysterical. She was obviously seriously stressed outright now, and not entirely sure of herself.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." He answered back as her got up, giving her a hand as she wiped her eyes of their remaining tears.

She then noticed me, standing back and just watching the two of them interact.

"Um…Susanoo? Whose you're… _friend_?" She asked, somewhat concerned about me, who I was, what I was doing here, and so on. That made it abundantly clear that she had been completely out of it for the entire fight.

"That's…a good question. She helped my fight of your attackers, but besides that I don't know who she is." He responded, turning to me.

"I'm right here you know." I pointed out indignantly, put off by the fact that they seemed to be acting like I wasn't even here.

"And who are you anyway? And why did you help?" He asked

"My name is Sarah, and as for why I helped, well, what kind of worthless piece of shit would I be if I just let a group of thugs have their way with a helpless young maiden such as yourself." I responded, gesturing to the girl he had called Red as I did so.

I figured Red was some kind of nickname for the girl. At least I hoped it was. I can't imagine how bad your parents must be if they decided to name you after a color.

"Really?" He responded, surprised that I was acting out of such simple goodwill as I had.

Probably best not to tell him about me also just needing to beat the shit out of something.

"You'd be surprised how many people lack such a strong code of honor, or any honor really, not to mention the ability to back it up." He continued.

"Yeah, that's not exactly exclusive to this city." I responded in kind.

"Well, in any case, thank you for your assistance, my name is Susanoo." He thanked me, holding out his hand which I shook in return.

The girl then walked up to me and shyly said, "So you really stuck your neck out for me? Even though you didn't know me?"

"Yeah, of course. I might not have known you then, but I hope I can know the two of you better later." I replied honestly.

"Well, I do to. My name is Kali." The girl replied with a sweet smile, shaking my hand as well, though when she said the second part I froze, recognizing it.

 _She probably doesn't have anything to-_ I began to think

Before we could get anywhere else, however, the leader showed up again, with like 30 guys. But then again, I'm shit with numbers so maybe it was 50.

I don't know

It was a lot.

"Well shit." I said simply, stunned by his sudden appearance with reinforcements.

"Get them!" He cried, gesturing towards the three of us.

As he did his gang poured though the alleys, covering the walls in front of us. Susanoo stepped in front of Kali in a protective move while Kali looked like a deer in the headlights. Her response made me think that she was thinking that even her Susanoo couldn't take this many people by himself.

But he wasn't alone.

As the gangbangers got into their stances to send a flurry of magic at us I looked to him, evil grin plastered all over my face, steely calm all over his. We nodded to each other and charged forward to meet the enemy.

* * *

I don't really how long the fight took. It felt like it lasted hours, maybe days, but in reality it only lasted probably ten minutes.

Ten minutes of chaos.

Blissful blissful chaos.

I mean, yeah sure the two of us ended up covered in cuts and bruises, but it was the most fun I've had in a long time.

There we sat, back to back on the cold, hard cement, leaning against one another. Surrounded by, like, 50 unconscious people.

And some dead people.

Don't know how many, lost count.

It was glorious, but the two of us where dead tired. Well three of us, Kali was lying on the ground by our side panting. After the fight Kali had went around to heal everyone, trying to keep as many people alive as possible. As I watched I noted that she wasn't just some novice plugging holes, she knew _damn_ well what she was doing. She appeared to use blood magic to put them back together, which considering how young she is, is impressive.

With blood healing, as I understand it, you can heal almost any injury, but you _have to know what you're doing_. You can't just _heal_ someone by willing it. You have to know _how_ to put them back together. Otherwise you're just shoving bloody pieces of the meat puzzle back together, hoping they stick.

So I watched as she literally wove people back together again with tendrils of their own blood. Thanks to that not that many people died. In fact, I thing only the boss died. But that's not entirely surprising.

Kali may be fucking amazing, but even she has a hard time fixing a severe case of missing head.

Especially when said head is little more than a stain on the wall.

So there we sat, exhausted, for, like, 30 minutes just panting and getting enough energy to move again. Susanoo and I had taken a few blows in the fight. Well, okay, I took a _lot_ of blows, but I was built sturdy so I just tanked them. That being said, I still felt incredibly sore now that the adrenaline had burned off, and I bet Susanoo felt the same.

But at the same time it was nice, here we all were, just laying here, exhausted but we had successfully won a great battle not just for our lives, but for the lives of others. It felt good, to lie here with these comrades in arms I had made. After that I think Susanoo and I had learned a lot about each other from our fight, and we learned to trust each other. I think I can call him a friend.

Finally I was able to break the comfortable silence.

"So…That was…fun." I said between huffs of breath.

"Is it…over?" Kali asked, similarly out of breath.

"Yes…the…leader…is…over there." He said, lazily gesturing to a body crumpled to the ground with the cleanly decapitated neck, indicative of a clean slice with a sword, and the bloody stain on the wall behind him, indicative of something smashing the head into the wall at extremely high speeds.

"Oh…good." She responded, relieved.

"How about…we get out of here…before the cops show up?" I suggested.

"Why?...We didn't do…anything illegal….we were just… defending ourselves." Kali countered.

"Yeah… but cops'll… ask us questions…about this…and I don't feel like… answering a laundry list… of questions…do you?" I explained.

"Good point." Susanoo agreed

With a grunt I got up and then lent a hand towards both of them, helping them up.

The fight had left me beaten and battered. I felt incredibly sore but I still had enough in me to walk without limping. In fact I was feeling great. As we walked towards the street, exiting the alley, I felt great pride and happiness at the accomplishment I had just made, especially because of the new friends I made along the way. As I walked to the street basking in the post-victory glow I neglected to pay attention to my surroundings.

Particularly the cars in the street.

 **BOOM!**

I felt a thundering pain explode from the entire left side of my body, I felt my bones bending, skin breaking, and muscles tearing. With all the damage I had already taken, it was too much, I couldn't stay awake, and soon the entire world faded to black.

* * *

 _A/n: Yay!_

 _I did it!_

 _I finally Posted one of my top 5 chapters!_

 _Fuck Yeah!_

 _It's one of my top 5 because it introduces tons of important and badass shit and has a few badass action scenes_

 _I mean._

 _First: We finally get to see Sarah let loose a little, that being said it's not like she was pushed to the limit or anything._

 _Second: We got more formally introduced to Kali, and Susanoo. Both of whom are critical characters_

 _Technically we got introduced to another character at the end there, but you'll find out more about that later._

 _Technically, if I really wanted to, I could have added a bit more content and split this into two nice little chapters._

 _I didn't want to._

 _So as a result you get to read one of my larger chapters._

 _The only that truly compares thus far is Test Day, and that one was hell to write._

 _This one?_

 _This one was an **absolute pleasure** to write._

 _I'll probably call chapters like these super-chaps._

 _And...if I have too, I'll make "Darknesss" contain several of these._

 _In hindsight..._

 _..._

 _..."Darkness" Is Fucking Long As Shit._

 _Buuuuuuuuuut..._

 _..._

 _Not sorry._

 _Also, I hope you can start to see why I called this episode "Darkness"_

 _I'll probably explain the whole thing later._

 _Also, in case you're wondering, Sarah's not a ruthless killer._

 _The best way to describe what happened is to say she got carried away and forgot to hold back enough to keep everyone alive._

 _On a side note, in case you're worried, Tenzin's not dead or anything._

 _He and his family play an important part of the story, just...later._

 _Trust me, When I'm done everyone will have gone through some form of their own personal hell at some point._

 _Weeeeeeeeeel..._

 _Everyone except the devil of this story._

 _Technically he gets a happy ending._

 _You'll find out more later._

 _Oh_

 _Another thing._

 _In case you haven't noticed..._

 _October is going to be a busy as shit month for me._

 _At this rate, if I want Landfall out on Halloween then I'm just going to have to shit out like three chapters in a week._

 _Then again..._

 _I doubt you lot'll complain about it._

 _Bastards..._

 _I mean Gentlemen and Scholars All!_

 _ha ha_

 _ha_

 _ha_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _sorry._

 _Oh, and I'll explain Kali's issue later on, but it might not be what you think_

 _It's certainly special_

 _I mean, usually you can't feel pain in a dream, and yet Kali felt agony in hers_

 _In the mean time..._

 _War Out_


	11. Scene 11: Telling Stories in the Dark

Scene 11, chap 11

Telling Tales in the Dark

* * *

 _A/n: Hey, sorry for the wait, but on the bright side, it's another super chap._

 _Enjoy you greedy bastards._

 _I mean generous...love children?_

 _he_

 _he_ _he_

 _shutting up now._

* * *

 **Sarah pov**

I exploded back into consciousness in a dark room on a soft bed. When I say I exploded back into consciousness I mean it. When I wake up from one of my "comas" it's not like waking up from a nap, instead of all my senses coming back to me slowly, it's like I'm jolted by a bolt of lightning or something. I gasped a breath of cool fresh air and bolted upright, sitting up in the bed.

Despite being fully cognizant again I was having a little trouble remembering why I might be here, as well as the events that led up to this.

"Well this feels familiar." I mumbled to myself as I got out of bed. This time, however, I had my clothes on, I wasn't wrapped up like a damn mummy.

Then I remembered getting hit by…something.

If I had to guess I'd say I got hit by a car, but maybe it was a something like Naga. Some kind of giant animal that people ride or something.

Either way I was probably out for a while, whatever hit me packed a hell of a punch.

"I hope nobody lost their shit." I mumbled thinking about how bad the situation could be, particularly on my sister's end. Mary probably wasn't too worried, she would know if I was in real danger, but Korra might be panicking a bit.

I knew I wasn't in the hospital, it looked like I was in somebody's room.

Somebody rich.

 _Looks like someone's a gearhead too._ I thought as I saw some schematics of cars, car parts, and some pieces of car parts.

 _Why am I in this girl's room and not the hospital?_ I thought. I knew it was a girl's room because of all the girl clothes laying around, as well as the makeup set.

Well…

I assumed it was a girl, it could have been a guy with special fetish or something, maybe a tranny.

Would _not_ be the first time.

Then I remembered some of the more intimate details of the fight.

The guy with the swords I met, Susanoo.

The girl we saved, Kali.

And…

…The wet crunchy squish of a man's skull…

"Fucking Shit!" I cursed under my breath.

 _I can't believe I let myself do that! That I let myself lose control!_ I thought to myself.

As much as I enjoyed the fight, the fact was I let myself go too far. People are far too fragile to let myself go like that.

As much as those people may have been scum, they didn't deserve to die, and especially not because I forgot to hold back enough to keep everyone alive.

 _Oh wait, no I can totally believe I would do that_. I thought darkly.

 _After all….It wouldn't be the first time._

I sighed in defeat, realizing that there was nothing I could do to bring them back.

This kind of scenario was exactly the kind of thing I was worried about happening. As the stress builds up in me over time, I become more aggressive and violent. It becomes harder for me to stay my hand, and for me to hold back from delivering a killing blow.

If the stress builds up for too long without me releasing it in a sufficient way, then I can begin to…lose control of myself.

It's not like there's some demon in me trying to claw its way out, even if it feels like that sometimes, no.

Instead the pressure will kind of…force itself out. I'll have little outbursts where I lose my sense of self control and I basically give into my basest desires. I stop thinking things through and just start doing the first thing that comes to mind. I become impatient and irritable.

There stop being bad ideas, just fun ones.

Pain becomes an illusion, and everything is pleasure.

Needless to say these bouts of…chaos…don't usually end well.

But it only gets really bad if I went for months without doing anything interesting.

Fortunately my little skirmish was enough to relieve a lot of my stress. I can already feel my mind clearing as it become easier to think.

Speaking of which, I start thinking about what I need to do right now.

I look around the room trying to see if I can see anything that would indicate I was in any danger. After that I extend my senses, trying to feel if anything comes up on that end. When I'm done I can tell that I'm in some sort of mansion with an awesome secret lab.

The house is mostly empty, but there are a few people, likely servants or something, walking around the house.

There is, however, a group of three people in the kitchen.

So after sensing around the house and surrounding grounds for long enough I come to the conclusion that I'm not in any real danger. If I wanted to I could bust out this place and there's not a damn thing they could do about it.

Still don't know why I'm here though.

Oh well.

Getting up from the bed I kneel down on the ground, bring my hands together, and say a prayer for the dead,

And for my soul.

I don't know if God's in this dimension, or has any say about anything that happens here, but considering it _is_ God….

Once that's done I decide to head out and find out what the hell's going on.

 _I hope those people in the kitchen can give me some answers._

* * *

 **? pov**

"What do we do if she doesn't wake up?" I ask worriedly

"She'll wake up." She assures me

"You don't know that." I counter, slightly panicked

"I know that while she does have some serious damage throughout her body, it's really only a bunch of bruises and a few cracked bones. Not something you usually get when hit by a car." She responds

"That doesn't sound normal." I ask cautiously, not entirely sure what that means, but it doesn't sound right.

"It's not" She answers lowly.

"In the meantime what do we do about the people who might be looking for her, her friends and family?" I ask.

"We don't actually know anything about her, we just met her when you nearly killed her with your car." He answers for her.

"I'm sorry! She just came out of nowhere! I had _no_ time to do anything!" I frantically defend myself, trying to convince myself as much as them.

"When she wakes up she'll probably want revenge." He continues

"Stop making me feel bad, I feel terrible enough as is." I pout, feeling waves of guilt come over for what I had done.

"If she doesn't wake up then her family will probably want revenge." He continues mercilessly

"I know, I know, I said stop making me feel terrible." I plead, feeling even worse as I consider all the people I've affected by what I've done.

"Hell, I just met her and I kind of want to avenge her." He adds, unrelenting

"I'm sorry Okay! Stop making me feel bad!" I shout, trying to stop him from making me feel like absolute shit.

"Never. This is your punishment." He answers calmly, and here's where I know he's just teasing me.

Well, in his own special way.

"I'm going to be honest Asami, you might not want to have Sarah wake up." She warns hesitantly

"What, why wouldn't I want her to wake up?" I ask, not knowing why I would want this girl to stay in a coma.

"Because she probably _would_ want revenge. I mean you seriously messed her up. I know I would want some revenge if I were her." She explains

"Well, you know I can handle myself." I counter, confident in my ability to defend myself.

"…Asami she helped me beat up an army of gangsters. There was 62 of them." He replies in deadpan.

"…So." I respond after a second, not wanting to admit she could kick my ass.

"She threw a guy twice her size into a wall so hard he stayed there." He continues in deadpan

"Strength isn't everything." I counter.

"She survived your car _after_ a fight with 62 gangsters." He argues.

"Well, if she's that tough then I'll just use her strength against her." I say in defiance.

"Asami." She says, getting my attention.

"Yeah Blue?" I ask, wondering what she wants.

"She'll destroy you." She replies in deadpan as well.

"…." All I can do is just stare blankly at her in shock.

"Ha ha ha! If she says it's true you know you have no chance." He laughs after a moment, the both of us knowing full well that if she doesn't have my back, then I really am screwed.

"Who has no chance?" a fourth voice said, entering the conversation in the dark.

"AAAHHHH!" I screamed in surprise.

"SPIRITS!" Blue exclaimed.

"Hey." Susanoo greeted

She flipped a switch on the wall and bathed the kitchen in light. It was the person we had been talking about.

 _Shit_

"Surprise." She said with a toothy grin, obviously pleased about successfully surprising us.

"Uhhhh….." I said, I had no idea what to actually say, especially in light of the fact that our conversation had been about how hard she was going to destroy me as revenge for me hitting her with my car.

"Uhh…how much of that did you hear?" Blue asked slowly and cautiously.

"Pft, All of it. You guys weren't exactly being quiet. That's how I found you." She said with a dismissal wave of her hand, looking surprisingly relaxed.

"Wait, how are you up and walking around?" Blue asked again.

"Uhh….with my legs?" She answered slowly, as if she didn't really know how to answer that.

"Yeah but Asami fractured your leg." She stated, "You shouldn't be able to walk without crippling pain."

She looked down at her legs, lifted one and wiggled it, then did the same with the other before looking back up at us.

"Doesn't feel fractured."

"Wha-how is that…" Blue said in disbelief, and she wasn't the only one.

Now that I thought about it I remembered that after the crash she had been pretty roughed up, she had a fractured leg and fractured ribs and she was covered in bruises. Blue did what she could but there's only so much that her blood healing can do. Given that she shouldn't be out of bed, but here she was, and she looked perfectly fine.

"How _are_ you okay?" Susanoo asked, obviously thinking along the same lines as the rest of us.

"Well a good night's rest does wonders for the body!" She said cheerily, not really answering the question.

And she damn well knew it.

Before we could question her about it more she changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, how long have I been out?"

"Several hours." I answered slowly

"Yeah that sounds about right." She mumbled before saying, "I should probably get in contact with Korra before she flips her shit. Well actually, it's probably a bit late for that.", mostly to herself.

"Who's Korra?" Susanoo asked

"Oh, she's my friend. Korra, my sister, and me are all sharing a house in the city." She explained.

"Shouldn't your sister be concerned too?" Blue asked

"Na, she knows that this shit isn't exactly out of the ordinary for me." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, and I'm really sorry I hit you with my car, I'm glad to see you're okay." I apologized whole-heartedly.

"Yeah, kind of figured that part out already." She said slightly surprised but no anger in her voice.

"Oh. Right.…Aren't you…mad?" I asked cautiously.

"Na, you're not the first person to hit me with a car, not the worst, and not the last." She dismissively responded.

"…Not the worst?" Blue said in shock what we were all thinking.

"Yeah, more importantly though, why am I here?

In a mansion?

Instead of somewhere like, I don't know, a hospital?" Sarah asked innocently.

Little did she know how serious a question that really was.

After she asked the question there was a pregnant pause. The three of us, Susanoo, Blue, and I, were all frozen for a second, not wanting to answer the question. Sarah probably didn't have any idea what the answer she was seeking was.

She didn't seem like she was looking for anything in particular, just justifiably concerned for why we didn't take her to the hospital. Nevertheless the tension generated by the question was so thick you had to cut it with a knife. We were all worried about how she would react to the truth, Blue most of all.

After all, she's the one who blood bent Sarah.

So after a moment of tension Susanoo elbowed Blue in the ribs gently to remind her of what she had to do.

Startled by his action she looked back up at him with a look of fear and trepidation on her face. She _really_ didn't want to do this. She knew how people tended to react to her abilities. Blood bending was never really seen as much of a good thing, thanks to the Avatar's wife, Katara, but after the Night Of the Blood Moon, it got even worse. It went from simple fear of a creepy ability, to hatred of sinful and dark art.

People began to see the simple _ability_ to blood bend as a crime just as bad as murder. Water benders were on thin ice since _technically_ they all had the potential to do it, just only on a full moon. That being said, from what we've learned from Blue, some people had an… _affinity_ for the art.

"I-I would l-like to…a-apologize." Blue began nervously.

Not many people knew about Blue's ability, and we liked to keep it that way. In the past, when she was still trying to…control her gift as a child some people saw her doing it.

It didn't end well.

She was chased down by a mob for being an evil blood bending witch.

Her mother barely got her out of there alive.

After that incident Susanoo and I've been very…protective of Blue and her abilities.

While I _am_ thankful that she helped Susanoo save Blue from the mob of Triple Threats, I wasn't so naive to think that would mean she was some kind of saint. After hearing that Blue's a blood bender she could very well turn on us and try to kill her or something.

If it came down to that, Susanoo and I would defend Blue with our lives, no matter who this girl was.

Sarah, for her part, looked very confused by what Blue was saying.

"What are you apologizing for? If anything I should be thanking you. I got the impression that you healed me up." Sarah answered, looking straight at Blue's visible eye.

"I-I used blood bending to heal you." Blue said quickly with a slight stutter from her apprehension.

And here it is.

Here's the moment where we discover if we've made a new friend…

…Or a new enemy.

I tensed as I prepared for a violent response from Sarah, ready to defend Blue at the slightest provocation.

I glanced to my right to see Susanoo doing the same. I knew that if he thought it was the best course of action, he would kill Sarah without a second thought.

Even Blue tensed up. She prepared herself to see Sarah blow up at her. To see her scream in rage at the very _idea_ that she had even _touched_ her with that unholy dark art. To see Sarah come at her with the intent to kill her like the disgusting witch that she was. And she was even prepared to see Susanoo cut the head of someone she could consider her a friend.

She could already see the look of betrayal in Sarah's face, that look of surprise when she realizes that she didn't save some innocent girl, but some evil demon in the shape of one.

In fact…the only one who hadn't tensed up…

Was Sarah herself.

"Blood… _bending_?" Sarah asks in a confused tone, sounding as if she had little to no idea what we were talking about.

At that the three of us almost stumbled in surprise.

 _She doesn't know what blood bending is? How is that even possible? After the Night of the Blood Moon_ _everyone_ _should know what blood bending is. Well…that and curse it as an evil art._ I thought to myself in surprise.

Blue looked at the two of us with a questioning look on her face, not really knowing what to do from here. She'd never encountered the problem of someone _not_ knowing what blood bending was.

I gave her a shrug, not really knowing what else to do, Susanoo, however, gave her a nod as a show of support.

Going back in after collecting her thoughts Blue once again turned toward Sarah to give her an explanation.

"Blood bending is…it's what I used to heal you." She began to explain. "I used my bending to control the blood in your body and used that to kind of…put you back together. If you know what you're doing it's a much more effective means of healing than simple water healing."

" _OOOhhh_! You're talking about Blood Magic! Yeah, I kind of figured that's what you used to heal me. After all, that _is_ what I saw you using on the gangsters to keep them alive." Sarah exclaimed in realization, but, surprisingly, not in anger or disgust.

At _that_ we _did_ stumble.

We were so shocked by that statement that I nearly tripped over my own feet and Susanoo choked on his own spit. Blue just kind of…shut down for a couple moments. She just kind of stood there after her jaw hit the floor, looking at Sarah with her eyes as wide as saucers.

Sarah, for her part, looked torn between amused and uncomfortable at our response.

"…Wait, what?" Blue asked after her brain finished rebooting.

"Oh, right, um…I'm not from this country. On my country a lot of things are…different. For example, we call bending magic. Or, at least, we would include it as a form of magic." Sarah explained somewhat hesitantly, sounding as if she wasn't entirely sure how to explain it herself.

"Wait, you're from another country? One that calls bending…magic?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah, basically." She said simply.

"Oh… _okay_." I said hesitantly, never having heard of a country that calls bending magic.

"That being said, I would like to know what _kind_ of blood magic you did." Sarah asked.

"Huh?" We all asked.

Out of all the questions we've _ever_ heard about blood bending, _"what kind of blood bending did you do"_ , certainly isn't one of them.

"Oh, okay, um…in my country blood magic is a general term used to describe all magics that affect the blood, but it's not very descriptive in it of itself. What you did was a blood healing technique, one of the most common ways to heal people in my country with magic." Sarah began to explain.

"What I want to know, however, is _how_ you controlled the blood. You could have used water magic to control the water in the blood, a pure form of blood magic where you can only control blood, some type of spiritual magic, hell, maybe you even used metal magic to control the iron in my blood. It's difficult, but possible." Sarah finished

"…oh…" Is all we could say.

 _Never_ had we heard blood bending spoken of in such a way. Sarah made it sound like being able to control blood is…normal?!

Not only that, but there are different ways to control some's blood where she's from, so much so that she wanted to Blue to explain which one she used.

"It's not terribly important or anything, I'm mostly just curious." Sarah added when she saw the way we were all reacting.

"No, no, it's…it's okay. I, uh, I just use my water bending to control the water in the blood. I've been able to do since I was 7." Blue explained, though I was surprised she said that last part. She doesn't usually open up about her bending like that to strangers.

I guess Sarah was worming her way into her heart with all her genuine kindness and selflessness.

I supposed it helped that she wasn't in the least bit scared of Blue's powers.

Hell, when Susanoo and I learned about them, even _we_ were a little scared.

But Sarah?

There wasn't even a _hint_ of it. There was nothing on her face but curiosity.

Genuine.

Innocent.

Curiosity.

"Alright, that makes sense, I guess. Where I come from what you can do would be classified as water magic: blood form: healing application. Or, colloquially, blood form healing." Sarah explained

"Wait, so blood bending is…normal where you're from?" Blue asked, astonished by this revelation, as were we all.

"Yeah, kinda. I mean, it's not like _everyone_ can do it or anything, only water mages. And even among the few water mages we have, not all of them can master both medicine and blood form enough to actually _heal_ people with it.

I'm not one myself, but from what I know you have to have intimate knowledge of what exactly you're doing. If you don't you're just using magic to smush together different pieces of the bloody meat puzzle in the hopes they stick together." Sarah explained

At that Sarah and Blue began to get heavily involved in talking about blood bending, blood magic, and the various techniques for healing.

Apparently Sarah had a close friend since she was a child called Bryn who was training to be a doctor. She learned a lot about the field from her and even learned how to properly triage and treat people, at least to a certain degree. It's not like she was jumping to do brain surgery or anything.

Susanoo and I, however, were flabbergasted. I can't really say enough how incredibly _odd_ this was. I could barely even believe this was happening. I mean, Sarah had only really known Blue for an hour at most, and here they were talking like they had known each other for months about a subject that Blue considered one of her deepest secrets.

I looked to Susanoo to see if he could see anything suspicious coming from Sarah, because this just _couldn't_ be real. It was too…convenient to find someone so…perfect to be a new friend for Blue.

However, he looked just as stunned as I did. When he turned to me I could tell from his stupefied face that he couldn't sense even a _whiff_ of deceit or dark intentions. Sarah, as unbelievable as it sounds, was the real deal.

"Hey, that actually reminds me, why did you all look so…tense when Kali was telling me about her ability to use blood form proficiently?" Sarah asked innocently, not know the dark truth that laid behind that question.

Blue looked down at her feet, not wanting to think about that night again, but who can blame her? It's not called the Night of the Blood Moon for nothing.

Susanoo and I looked at each other to try and think of how to respond. I went first.

"Well…you see Sarah, while in your country blood bending might be…relatively normal, _here_ it's considered by most to be a…dark, disgusting, and forbidden art. To even be seeing do it _at all_ is considered to be a heinous crime equal to murder." I explained sadly.

"Actually, in some ways it's considered worse. If you're a blood bender then you're automatically associated with the worst terrorists the city, possible even the world, has ever seen." Susanoo added darkly.

"Why would they do that? I mean, I guess I can see why some would consider it…creepy, but evil? That seems a bit much." Sarah commented.

"It wasn't always like that, but it's mainly thanks to two things in particular." Susanoo began to explain.

"First, there is one person in particular who kind of…discovered blood bending. She didn't discover it herself, she just found someone who did, but that person was a victim of the hundred years war, and as a result of what they suffered they became a serial killer, and used blood bending to make it happen.

When she found the serial killer she learned of the art, and how the killer was using it to kill people. She was disgusted by it, and found the art itself to be just as evil as the person who did it. That woman, was the Avatar's wife. Using her influence she basically told the world that blood bending was a dark art." I explained for Susanoo, signaling for Susanoo to take the next part with a nod of my head.

"But, that wasn't everything. Despite her best efforts, all she ended up doing for the most part was telling the world that blood bending existed. Most people considered blood bending weird and creepy, but not all together evil, especially considering what you could do with the other elements. I mean controlling another person with their blood is creepy as hell, but so is an earth bender burying you alive." Susanoo started before taking a deep breath.

This was the part where everything went to shit.

"Then…then that all changed."

"About twelve years ago was an…event known to just about the entire world as the Night of the Blood Moon." He said.

"Oh yeah, I've heard a couple people mention it here and there, but I have no idea what actually happened, just that it was really fucking bad." Sarah commented.

At that Susanoo chuckled, a dark, mirthless laugh.

"Yeah, that's…that's one hell of an understatement." He replied before getting a serious look in his face again.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but water bender's powers are actually affected by the moon. On a new moon or during the day they're relatively weak, but on a full moon at night, they become unbelievably powerful. Here it's relatively common knowledge, at least for water benders. Apparently every one of them can feel the waxing and waning of the moon.

One particularly powerful gang knew about this. A gang known as the Red Monsoons. They're a gang composed exclusively of powerful water benders. Knowing this, the leader of the gang took advantage of a somewhat uncommon celestial…coincidence.

On that fateful night was the rare combination of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and an unusually large full moon. Some say that for a little while, the moon _actually_ turned blood red" He explained

"Wait, the Night of the Blood Moon was on the winter solstice?" Sarah asked in disbelief

"Yeah, yeah it was." I replied sadly, desperately trying not to think of that bloody night.

Trying, and failing

"Sounds like the shittiest Christmas ever." Sarah mumbled, though she was still loud enough for us all to hear her.

"What?" Blue asked, not having any idea what she was talking about.

"Christmas, it's basically the most important and celebrated holiday all year in my country. Christmas day itself actually takes place on the winter solstice, well near it, but its close enough." She explained

"Really?" Blue asked, suddenly intrigued by this. Here, that time of year simply known for being sad, depressing, and angering. After all, it _is_ the anniversary of the bloodiest, most gruesome, terrorist attack… _ever_ , really.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be the day that Jesus, our…god…type…person…kinda….was born. It's…complicated, and I don't really feel like busting out a bible to explain this shit to you right now. Basically the Christmas season is all about giving gifts and spreading happiness in celebration of Christ's birth. Kinda." Sarah attempted to explain, but it was obvious to everyone that she didn't feel like she was doing a good job.

Blue looked completely enthralled by this. After all, it _is_ her birthday. Technically we don't know her _real_ birthday, but since her mom found her on the day after the Night of the Blood Moon we always just used that as her birthday, even if it _was_ after the most depressing day of the year.

Susanoo, in attempt to get us back on topic, cleared his throat. After seeing that he had everyone's attention again, he said in an annoyed voice, "As I was saying before I was so _rudely_ interrupted."

"The Night of the Blood Moon combined both the most powerful night for water benders, with the longest night of the year, giving the Red Monsoons _hours_ of almost completely uncontested power. At the time, hell even to this day, most of the police force, as well as the city, is composed of earth benders first, followed by fire benders, and finally water benders make up the minority.

This meant that when the Red Monsoons went out into the city while being supercharged from the moon, very few people could actually match them. Even the lowliest member of the red Monsoons suddenly became capable of taking on a small group of people on their own. That's not even considering their secret weapon.

Up until that point everyone thought that the Red Monsoons where only relatively strong water benders. What no one realized was that everyone in the gang was also a blood bender.

Until that point the head of the gang must have ordered that that be kept under lock and key, so until that night no one knew that any of them could blood bend, let alone the entire gang.

The result, when everything was said and done, was that the Red Monsoon's had almost complete free reign for the entire night. No serious force was able to oppose them. There were pockets of resistance, of course, but they were nothing but tiny pebbles in the river of blood crashing down on the city.

That night they killed, threatened, or otherwise disposed of almost every single source of opposition in the city. There were a few notable exceptions, like the Agni Kais and Blue's mother, but everyone else pretty much either caved or died.

But they didn't stop there.

No

The Red Monsoons tore through the city like crimson typhoon, tearing apart everything in their way. No one really knows _why_ they did what they did, but everyone knows the end result.

By the next day thousands were confirmed dead, and even more missing. In many cases you couldn't even really tell _who_ died or how many, all you could tell was that the red stains on the walls used to be people.

And _that_ is why it is known as the Night of the Blood Moon. It is the bloodiest night in Republic City history. So many died that it's on par with some of the worst natural disasters." Susanoo finished darkly.

The whole time he was talking I couldn't help but remember that night.

The fear,

The blood covering me,

The blood covering _everything_ ,

The smell of iron and death covering the entire city.

There wasn't a spot in the city for a _month_ that didn't smell like death, that wasn't caked in blood.

Sarah was speechless. I guess she couldn't even _imagine_ how bad it was. It's not surprising.

As bad as it was, it also helped bring the city together, at least, against outsiders. There's a big difference between those that lived through that Night, and those who didn't. It's not hard to see why. Living in a bloody necropolis for a month will do that to a person.

"…I….I…I don't even know what to say." Sarah said simply in horror

"You don't even know the half of it." Susanoo began again

"It's said that no one lived though that Night unchanged, that everyone lost something,

And gained something else.

The Red Monsoons were ruthless in their night on the town. The killed men, women, children all without a second thought. Some say they were drunk on the power they gained, making them lose their sanity and give in to their darkest desires.

Others say they were possessed by dark spirits. The rumors regarding that night are uncountable.

Rape was an all too common occurrence that night, and apparently they lost all regard for whether or not you were a minor. Not only that but it's also suspected that they kidnapped hundreds, if not thousands of people to use as slaves.

Unfortunately they caused so much chaos and destruction that performing any sort of real police case after that night was nearly impossible. For the next month or so Republic city was in near complete anarchy.

Eventually, yes, it bounced back, but when it did nearly everyone in power was too scared to actually do anything about the gangs, which had gained an incredible amount of power in the power vacuum, especially the Red Monsoons. As a result there was almost no real police retaliation, and none of them were effective enough to subdue the gangs.

To this day the city lives in fear of a Second Night of the Blood Moon." He finished explaining solemnly.

Sarah was still just stunned by what she heard. She starred down at the ground for a moment, trying to think of what to say, trying to just figure out how to handle the Night of the Blood Moon.

Finally she looked up and spoke once more.

"That's terrible, but at the same time a question has been nagging me for a while now." She said finally

"Really, what?" I asked, giving her the go ahead.

"Why the hell do you and Susanoo call her Red and Blue when her name's Kali?" She asked bluntly

Once again, Sarah hit us with the unexpected.

The question in it of itself wasn't _totally_ unexpected, after all, it is a fairly odd habit the two of us have.

Nevertheless, the _timing_ of that question threw us off so severely we could barely form a proper response.

Finally, after a few seconds of our brains trying to…figure out where the hell she was going with this Susanoo finally responded.

" _What_?" He coughed out in disbelief.

"Yeah, Yeah, I know it's a little random, so sue me. The point is, it's been nagging me for a while why the hell you call her that. I mean she doesn't seem particularly red _or_ blue. I mean, she has blue eyes, but that's hardly special." Sarah explained

Once she explained it the three of us just sighed collectively.

It was, at this point, that we realized that as kind and caring as Sarah was, she was also incredibly distractible and scatterbrained.

She probably couldn't hold a grudge to save her life.

"It's mainly because of this." Susanoo said, going over to Blue and brushing away the hair that covered the left side of her face, revealing her crescent scar and red eye.

Seeing that reminded me of exactly what happened, taking me back in time to 12 years ago.

* * *

 **Susanoo pov**

It was 12 years ago, a couple of days after the Night of the Blood Moon, and the city was still in chaos. Mom and Dad had left me at the police station with Asami, as it was currently the safest part of the city, especially with all the UF soldiers dad stationed here.

We were still getting over seeing my grandfather and Asami's mother die in front of us, they died trying to protect us. Fortunately Chief Beifong was about to bring in a distraction for us. She walked into the room with a girl by her side, she looked like she was younger than the two of us, maybe six or seven.

She had the tan skin of the water tribe and her hair hung down over her face in a mess, her clothes didn't fit her, like she had just been given whatever was around. Her shirt was so big that it hung off her shoulder, it dropped down to her shins, and the sleeves hung well past her hands. She was clinging to the police chief's pants, as she was holding on for dear life, looking around fearfully at everything around her.

The Chief picked her up at sat her down next to us, saying, "Why don't you just play with Asami and Susanoo now, okay?" In a way that made it more of a command than a suggestion.

"You two." She said, pointing at Asami and me, "Don't let her run off." She commanded.

We nodded our heads emphatically, knowing better than to cross her. When she turned and left, leaving the room, the girl tried to go after her. I had to grab onto her arm to hold her back. She struggled in my grip, crying and begging for me to let her go.

Well kind of, she didn't actually make words, just whining sounds as she tried to get me let her chase after the chief.

"Stop struggling." I grunted, annoyed by how this girl was acting and not having the patience right now to deal with it.

"She'll be back so just sit down and shut up." I ordered, looking straight into her eyes, glaring at her.

I tried imitate my father when I did this, him being a great UF general meant he had to give orders a lot to whining subordinates, so he needed to learn how to exert his will over others, how to command authority. I think I did a pretty good job because it worked, she sat down and did her best to stop crying.

Asami did her best to try and comfort her, "Hey, what's your name?" She asked in a soft voice, brushing the girl's hair out of her face.

Now that her hair was out of the way it was easy to see a massive bandage wrapped around her forehead and left eyebrow. She had a gash under left eye that curved up into the bandage, likely extending under it. Her eyes were the most peculiar part of her, one was a bright, sapphire blue. The other was a deep, crimson red.

"…I don't know." She replied, her voice a whisper as she tried to suppress her trembling.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I said harshly, this girl was getting on my nerves.

"I don't remember." She whimpered.

"How can you not remember your name? Are you stupid?" I said, having very little sympathy at this point.

"Susanoo! Be nice! Look at her!" Asami commanded, not liking my tone.

"I can't remember anything." The girl whimpered sadly again.

Asami, feeling sympathy I didn't really share, tried to comfort her by stroking the girl's hair and massaging her scalp.

"Well if you don't remember your name then we'll just have to give you one, huh!" She said excitedly, trying to cheer the girl up.

And it worked.

"Really?" She said looking up at us, a spark of happiness and joy in her eyes.

"Sure! What should your name be I wonder?" Asami said, tapping her free hand on her chin as she looked thoughtfully at the girl.

"Red." I said, looking at the girl's left eye. It was such a defining part of her person that I thought it was a great fit.

"What! Why would we call her that?! That's not a real name!" Asami cried out in objection. I mean she was right, but I didn't care.

"She has a red eye! It's her defining characteristic! Thus Red!" I defended

"That's stupid! She has a blue eye too! She has just as much right to be called Blue!" She countered.

"That's ridiculous! Lots of people have blue eyes! But nobody has red eyes!" I defended again.

"Her name should be Blue!"

"Red!"

"Blue!"

"Red!"

"Blue!

"Red!"

"Blue!"

"Red!"

"Blue!"

"Blue!" I said, trying to trip Asami up.

"Red!" She said before she could stop herself, falling into my trap

"Ha! I got you! You said her name should be Red!" I said, happy that my plan worked.

"Wha-no! You said Blue first! I won! Her name's Blue!" She whined

Our childish arguing was interrupted by an unexpected sound.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" The girl laughed.

She was actually _laughing_. She had been crying just before, and now she was laughing at how silly we were being. Asami and I didn't know whether to be happy we successfully cheered her up, or be mad that she was mocking us.

* * *

"So after that Asami and I kind of just kept calling her that, even after Chief Beifong found out her real name from the shirt she found her wearing." I said, finishing up explaining everything to Sarah, including the part about Red's amnesia.

"I'm not going to lie, that's fucking retarded as shit." Sarah commented bluntly

"Hey!" Asami cried out, taking offense to that

"But at the same time, _Adorable_." Sarah added teasingly

Red just shrugged in a non-committal agreement whereas I scowled slightly.

I still thought it was a great name for her.

"So you guys were her first friends, or did you get your memory back?" Sarah asked.

"No, I still can't remember anything from before I was seven." Red said, shaking her head.

"Wow. That sucks, I can't imagine losing the memory of my parents. To literally lose everything but your life." Sarah acknowledged sadly.

"So what about you?" I asked

"What do you mean?" Sarah replied, confused.

"Shouldn't you get back to your sister and friend? They're probably worried about you." Asami said.

"Na, I already told you they're fine. Besides, you guys are _so_ much more interesting." She answered.

"I don't know if that's good or bad." I said cynically

"Sarah, what I want to know is where you learned to fight like that, I mean you fought just as well as Susanoo did and he's the strongest fighter I know. I never thought I'd meet anyone able to match him, let alone another unarmed non-bender!" Red said enthusiastically.

"Wait, she's on Susanoo's level?" Asami asked, pointing at me.

"Yup" I said without needing to think about it.

"Why didn't you tell me that?! For a second there I thought I had a chance." Asami exclaimed, saying the final part with a sigh of defeat and her head in her hands.

We had spared many times, but even in unarmed combat I was always far superior to her.

"Wait, what do you mean non-bender?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow, confused by what we said.

"Well you didn't use bending in the fight so I figured you weren't one. Are you saying you are?" I said slowly, unsure as to where this was going.

"Well, yeah I didn't use magic when I was fighting, but didn't you see me do this?" Sarah asked with her brow still raised as she held up her left arm, fist pointing to the ceiling.

When she did this her large metal bracelet, which was really more of an ornate arm guard, melted. It turned into a silver liquid and flowed up her arm, around her hand and wrist, and solidified into a small armored gauntlet.

"You're a metal bender?" Red asked in awe.

"Yeah" She said with a shrug, as if it was one of the most basic facts of her life. She might as well have admitted to having dark skin.

"Cool! My mom's one too, but I don't think I've seen her bend metal like that unless it was with the space metal." Red said enthusiastically.

"Really?" Sarah responded questioningly, as if that was surprising news.

"Yeah, right Asami?" Red asked her.

"Yeah, I can't say I've ever seen someone metal bend like that before." Asami agreed.

" _Oh_ , so that's you're name!" Sarah exclaimed, taking us off guard.

Again.

"…What?" Asami asked, not understanding what the hell was going on.

Again.

This was becoming a surprisingly common occurrence around Sarah.

"Well, you see we never really got properly introduced. Kinda got a _little_ distracted along the way with all the other stuff. What with the blood magic, terrorist attacks, story time, _and_ you hitting me with your car, I kinda forgot to ask." Sarah explained in that casually dismissive that only she could manage.

"Oh…right." She said in understanding, before clearing her throat.

I, knowing what she was going to do, and realizing how it was probably going to go, simply groaned and covered my face with my hand.

"I am Asami Sato, daughter of Hiroshi Sato of Future industries." She declared proudly.

Now, Asami wasn't arrogant, but she did tend to enjoy watching people react to her once they realized that she was Asami _Sato_ , as in the _sato_ mobile.

However, Sarah wasn't from this country.

If she hadn't even _heard_ of the Night of the Blood Moon then there is no way in hell that she's heard of satomobiles, let alone Future Industries. So, I expected that Sarah would just look at Asami in confusion and have no idea what she was talking about. I thought she was just going to ask what the hell Future Industries is, and why the hell she should even care.

Well, let's just say that our new friend is pretty much chaos given flesh.

And Chaos didn't take that predicting shit sitting down.

Instead, she widened her eyes in shock and surprise. Her jaw dropped in awe and her body went slightly slack.

Asami, thinking she had won, just smirked like the heiress she was. She just _exuded_ smugness.

"...You'all MotherFuckers Have _Last Names_!?" Sarah exclaimed in shock, her odd accent leaking through once again

Well, shit.

That's what we get for trying to predict chaos.

More

Fucking

Chaos.

Once again, we all just kind of stood there in…fucking I don't know what. That was _the_ last thing we expected her to get hung up on.

I mean, sure last names are rare-ish, but this? This is just insane.

So we stood there, waiting for our brains to start working again.

Finally, mine did.

"Wait, wait, wait. _That's_ what you're so hung up on? That Asami has a last name?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Damn Straight! Ever since I got here I've gotten nothing but first names, so I figured in this country nobody has last names. I mean, I thought it was weird, but I rolled with it." She explained in a fiery tone.

"You… _rolled_ with it?" I questioned back, having no idea what the fuck she meant by that.

"Well since no one gave _me_ a last name, I never gave mine." She explained

"Wait, _you_ have a last name?" I asked back in disbelief.

Not to sound like a dick, but Sarah didn't exactly… _look_ like she should have a last name.

What I mean by that is that most people who have last names, only have them because they're part of some rich and/or powerful family. Like Red being part of the Beifongs, and Asami being part of the Sato's.

Sarah didn't exactly scream _upper class_.

Then again,

Neither did Red's mom.

And she was one of the richest people in the world.

Technically

"You have a last name!" Red exclaimed.

Unlike me, she wasn't skeptical, she was exuberant. Her new friend, chaos incarnate, was part of a powerful family like the rest of us.

"Hell yeah!" Sarah responded back enthusiastically, her pride showing through her toothy grin.

"Well, in that case I suppose we should _all_ reintroduce ourselves." I suggested now that last names were coming into play.

"Me first! My _full_ name is Kali Beifong, daughter of Lin Beifong." Red announced proudly and excitedly.

With a sigh of reluctance and defeat, I went next.

"I'm Susanoo Arashi, you know, son of General Arashi." I said, not sharing in the enthusiasm.

"I already said that I'm Asami Sato." Asami said, gesturing for Sarah to go.

"Well then, in that case, I am Sarah McAllen, daughter of the McAllens." She proudly proclaimed.

"So are you rich or something?" Red asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Sarah asked, caught off guard by that question.

"Well, I don't know about your country, but here families only have last names if they're powerful, rich, or prominent." Red explained.

"Oh. Well, hehe, back home _everyone_ has last names. That's why I thought it was so weird. So no I'm not ri-…well…shit." She began to say before she remembered something

"Okay, never mind.

I _am_ , technically I guess, rich.

Kinda.

Ish.

Well mom and dad are. I guess that means I'm a…princess? Heiress? Spoiled brat? I don't fucking know." Sarah tried to explain, but as was quickly becoming clear, Sarah was shit at explaining things.

"What I want to know, is what country _are_ you from? I've never heard of names that sound even _remotely_ like that, well except for one. Not only that but I've never heard of a country that calls bending _magic_." Asami asked pointedly.

We'd been dancing around this question for a while now

"I doubt it'd mean anything to you even if I _did_ say it." Sarah countered

"Try me." Asami shot back

"It's not like it'd do any harm." Red added, trying to convince Sarah to spill.

Sighing once again, Sarah relented.

"Fine, I'm from America." She said simply.

At first, this didn't mean anything to me.

 _America, what is that? It sounds familiar, but I have no idea where that is._

Which, based on everyone else's face, is what we were all pretty much thinking. Then Red had a spark of realization and perked up.

"Oh wait, Oh spirits! Guys remember!" She said excitedly.

Apparently she had struck mind gold.

"I think so, maybe?" I said, still unsure.

I knew I had heard of it before, but I was unsure of where and in what context.

"Kind of?" Asami said unsure, just like me.

"Our grandparents talked about America!" Red said excitedly, pointing to me and her.

"They did?" Sarah said, mildly surprised, apparently, that anyone had actually heard of America.

Suddenly my mind exploded with the memories of the stories our grandparents would tell the three of us about the Iron Dragon, who came from…

"Right! America!" Asami exclaimed, coming to the same conclusion as me.

"Where the Iron Dragon came from." I said in surprised revelation

"Who they said had dark skin, thick, black, curly hair, brown eyes and most importantly, was a powerful metal bender." Red continued, pointing out the other similarities between what they told us about the Iron Dragon, and…

"Sarah, do you know anything about the Iron Dragon?" Asami asked in awe, amazed by the possibility that she met someone from the infinitely mysteriously land of the equally mysterious Iron Dragon.

The Iron Dragon was something of a hero for Asami, well kind of for all of us, but Asami idolized him at times. Supposedly he was a powerful metal bender from a strange land who wielded mysterious weapons, a great Warhammer, and a suit of armor with a helmet resembling a dragon's head, which is where he got the name.

Supposedly he didn't always resort to his bending, despite being skilled at it, instead preferring to use his head, his weapons, and his environment to his advantage. He apparently advocated fighting smarter, and not harder, believing that non-benders had just as much potential as benders.

Actually he was supposed to have thought even more highly of non-benders, as they weren't blinded to the possibilities by their power-born arrogance. It's for those reasons that Asami idolized him, a bender who thought non-benders could be stronger than benders by using their mind and their will.

Sarah actually chuckled to herself about something, some inside joke or something, and got up from the counter.

"Well I should hope so, he _is_ my dad." She said with a smile.

Silence.

Shocked silence.

The stunned silence lasted for five whole seconds.

No one knew what to say. Sarah's shit eating grin seemed to be full of pride and confidence. In no way did it look like she was lying, and in no way could we truly disprove it. I mean, it _seemed_ impossible, the Iron Dragon was a myth, a legend. I mean he was real, but he disappeared just as soon as he appeared, and that was nearly _70_ years ago.

The idea that he was still alive wasn't impossible, but the idea that he had a child who was _so_ young seemed to be. But again, I couldn't really discount it, other than that fact. Everything seemed to line up and prove her point. It at least proved that she was from the same place. And now that I think about it, my grandmother is kind of proof that Sarah _might_ actually be his daughter.

That's about when Asami broke the silence

 **Smack!**

I looked to my left to see Asami on the ground.

She had fainted.

Honestly I kind of wanted to join her, but I had to keep up a strong front. That being said I was thoroughly shocked. My mind was blank, I didn't know what to do other than switch from Asami's unconscious form to Sarah's shit-eating grin at the chaos she had wrought.

"Asami!" Red cried out, rushing to her form on the ground.

"Great, you made Asami faint. You happy now?" I asked Sarah flatly, knowing the answer.

"Very." She said happily, still wearing that shit-eating grin.

She chuckled as she walked over to me and Asami. "Don't worry about her she'll be fine." She said with a smile, "Probably."

"When she gets up you're explaining this shit to _all_ of us." I said gesturing to the three of us.

"Why not now?" Sarah asked.

"Because Asami would kill us if she knew that we found out about her hero while she was unconscious." I explained

"My dad was her hero?" She questioned skeptically.

"Was he really your dad?" I asked looking her straight in the eyes. I wanted the truth, no bullshit, and if she even wavered a little I would see it in her eyes.

She met my gaze and said with a wild grin, "Hells fuck'n yes. Best dad ever. He even let me drive when I was 12. And blow up a mountain."

Frankly the way she said it made it a bit too crazy to _not_ be true.

"Hmm" I hummed in acknowledgement.

Red was trying to pick up Asami while we talking, and propped her up on her shoulder, dragging her to her room.

"Hey, let me help you with her." Sarah said, going over to Red.

"It is partially my fault after all." She admitted as she grabbed Asami and picked her up, slinging her over her shoulder as if she weighed nothing.

We walked back to Asami's room, which was inconveniently far from the kitchen thanks to her father's stupidly big house.

"Stupid mansion." I muttered to myself.

* * *

 **Sarah pov**

We finally arrived in Asami's room, which the others directed me to, which I discovered was the room I had been staying in. That actually explained a lot. I threw her on the bed, probably less delicately than I should have. Kali rushed over to her and inspected her body, trying to see if she was okay.

In the meanwhile I took out my chronicler from my pocket and sent Mary as message saying the following, "I'm fine, made new friends, got into a fight, got hit by a car, staying at friend's house hanging out. Be back later."

Now to some, this may seem like a terrible message, giving little detail except the ones that would worry one the most. However, Mary wasn't like most people, and more importantly she knew me. From her perspective she was probably thinking something like, _again? Really Sarah?_ Instead of worrying about me.

Then I got a response back on it reading, "Your girlfriend organized a search with her only friends. It's quite humorous seeing them fret about your safety. Don't hurry back, it's the funniest thing I've seen her do in a while."

 _Classic Mary_ I thought with a frown. _Oh well, at least point-to-point mode on these things actually works here._

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Asami moving, indicating she was getting up.

"Ugh…what happened?" She groaned, rubbing her head, which had hit the floor so it was probably sore.

"I told you who my dad was and you fainted." I said bluntly as I played with the long, black, angular device.

"Oh right." She acknowledge, the fact of what that really meant not yet hitting her.

And then it did.

"OH RIGHT!" She exclaimed, looking up to me while she sat up on the bed, swinging her legs around over the side of it.

"You have to tell me everything about him!" She said excitedly

"Hell No!" I said sternly, "Do you have any idea how long that would take? I don't even know where to start."

"Well then, why don't you tell me what he's really like?! I've already heard a little about what he was like when he was here, but you're his daughter! You have to know everything there is to know about him!" She said excitedly.

"He is a pretty mysterious figure here, he came out of nowhere and then went back just as fast." Kali said

"I like how you guys just accept that I come from a different universe, and that everything else coming out of my mouth has been incredible, but not the trans-dimensional travel bit." I pointed out, mocking them.

"Wait, what do you mean you're from a different universe?" Kali asked.

"Oh Right! I forgot about that part." Asami said

"Right, yeah, Grandma _did_ say he wasn't from this world." Susanoo agreed.

"I don't remember that part." Kali pouted.

"Don't worry about it, it's not important." I dismissed with a wave of my hand.

"Yes it is! If he's from another world then how are you here?" Susanoo asked, demanding answers.

I sighed, knowing that this could take a little while. _Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up? No, it would have come up anyways._ I think to myself.

I consider how much I should really tell them, after all I haven't told the magical brothers about it. But at the same time I felt like I could really trust these guys. After fighting with Susanoo I've gained a high level of trust and respect for him, and these guys took care of me instead of just dumping me at the hospital after Asami crashed into me.

 _Alright, I'll tell them._

"Okay, see, what happened was." I begin

* * *

 _A/n: not going to lie_

 _I procrastinated the fuck out of this chapter._

 _I really should have had this out, like, a week ago._

 _buuuuuuut_

 _I didn't_

 _Blame Destiny._

 _I finally got the legendary edition for Xbone so I could play it again and I got distracted doing all of the shit with my friends._

 _But yeah_

 _This chapter was actually heavily edited._

 _Like so heavily at one point I considered just starting over._

 _I didn't, but the end result was basically doubling the chapter's size._

 _Now, I could have then cut this chapter in half, but considering that chapters 11 and 12 used to be just chapter 10, I didn't feel like cutting a chapter I cut in half in half again._

 _Now, some of you might be sad because no one gets fucked up and technically not much happens._

 _Well, you know what?_

 _Too bad._

 _This shit needed to be said, explained, and introduced, and at this moment this was the best way I found to do it._

 _I mean, shit._

 _In "Darkness" I'm introducing two new OC's_

 _A whole new, canon shattering event that took place that helped shape the world into what it is know_

 _Sarah and Mary's world(that's mostly next chapter)_

 _And_ _I begin to set up the next episode, "Stormfront", which ends in the chapter "Landfall"_

 _and "Landfall"_

 _he he_

 _"Landfall" is the Equalist Rally, where shit gets cray_

 _real cray,_

 _On another note, I introduced Asami differently!_

 _Yeah, she's going to be slightly different because she's been friends with Kali since they were kids and Susanoo for even longer, so it's not like she's desperate for attention or friends or anything._

 _Not saying she was originally, but she was kind of lonely._

 _Now, though?_

 _Now she already feels like she belongs._

 _Also, yes, Kali is a blood bender._

 _And a powerful one at that._

 _I always felt that blood bending in the show was underused, and instead just used as a plot device for evil._

 _"Can you blood bend?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Then you're a bad guy."_

 _Like, it just felt stupid that an ability in it of itself was always going to be evil._

 _I mean, yeah, sure, having someone control you're body like a puppet by painfully controlling your blood sounds pretty fucking bad._

 _That being said_

 _So is getting burned alive._

 _Or buried alive._

 _Or drowned._

 _Or thrown 100 feet into the air._

 _Having someone control you're blood is different, but not all together evil compared to some of the other stuff benders can do._

 _Not to mention using it to control people like a puppet just seems to be one use for a potentially super useful ability. _

_So that's what's Kali's for, in part, to use blood bending and not be an evil demon while doing it._

 _On a side note, I don't particularly have a reason for why Susanoo and Asami call her Red and Blue, I mean I explained the back story behind it but I don't have a deeper meaning or anything, I just thought it was...cute? I guess?_

 _Don't know._

 _Anyway, I'm not changing that, but I might change how I have them refer to her when not talking._

 _what I mean by that is the if we're in Susanoo's pov and it goes_

 _"This is an example" Said Red_

 _"shut up Red" I replied_

 _I might change it to_

 _"This is an example" said Kali_

 _"Shut up Red" I replied_

 _You see the difference?_

 _I'll only do it if you guys think it's too confusing or something._

 _I kinda think it makes sense to have it the way I already do, but the important part is that it's understood, so I can change it if you want._

 _Anyways._

 _I'm going to try_ _to have "Landfall" out by Halloween, but it means I'mg going to have to work my butt off._

 _Yay._

 _Which means, like, one chap a day._

 _Yay._

 _Oh, also, in case you haven't figured it out yet, when I have **? Pov** that means we're looking through the point of view of someone we haven't been formally introduced to yet._

 _Basically we don't have a name to the face yet._

 _It's gonna happen a few more times in the future, and if I changed it then I would be spoiling the story, which would be bad._

 _oh well._

 _But, that's about it._

 _War out._


	12. Scene 12: A Spark in the Dark

Scene 12, Chap 12

A Spark in the Dark

 **Sarah pov**

"And that's how I got to the city." I said, I left out the part where we escaped from the cops, and meeting the magic brothers.

"Wait, so you broke the Avatar out of the White Lotus ice prison after she burned you alive and escaped here to hide out, find jobs, and find a way home?" Susanoo summarized.

"Yup." I answered simply

"So you became friends with the avatar after she burned you alive?" He asked again.

"Yup."

"…Do you usually make friends with people who almost kill you?" He asked. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't stunned into silence. I mean he was still surprised and all, but he wasn't speechless anymore. Asami and Kali on the other hand were just staring at me, jaw on the floor and eyes as big as plates.

"Ha ha ha. Yeah pretty much." I admitted with a laugh

"…you're fucking crazy." He said

"You kidnapped the _avatar_?" Asami asked, finally joining the conversation.

"Si" I said, dropping a little Spanish for them, because I forgot that they didn't have Spanish here.

"What?" She asked, which is totally understandable. Since they didn't have Spanish here I might as well have said cookies.

Damnit, now I'm hungry.

"Yes." I corrected myself.

"And you survived getting burned alive?" Kali asked

"Yeah, I told you I've had worse. Hell, my own _sister's_ done worse to me." I replied honestly. I probably shouldn't have, the last thing they needed was more shocks.

"Your sister's done _worse_ to you?! How?!" Kali asked incredulously. Understandable, I mean not many people can imagine anything worse than getting burned alive.

"Well Korra wasn't trying to hurt me, it was an accident. Same thing with you, Asami. None of you were _trying_ to kill me." I explained.

"And Mary was?" Susanoo asked.

"… _maybe?_ " I answered without really answering the question.

"…wow. And you live with your crazy homicidal sister. You _are_ crazy." Susanoo said flatly.

"It's not like she tried to assassinate me or anything! We would fight and it would just get…a little…intense." I said, searching for words that wouldn't make it sound too bad.

"Define intense." Susanoo demanded

"Umm…well everything's usually on fire by the time dad breaks us up." I murmured, trying to recall how it usually happened.

"…How? Just How?" He asked in a tone that made it more of a rhetorical question. In a way that let you know he was done.

Just

Fucking

Done.

Meanwhile, Asami's brain decided to start working again.

…unfotunatley

"Wait, you still haven't told me anything about your father yet?!" She exclaimed, obviously quite miffed about it.

In response I groaned in mild annoyance.

 _Stating to regret telling her that_. I thought to myself.

At the same time, it _was_ slightly adorable to see her fangirling over dad.

Especially considering what he's really like.

I decided that I wasn't going to tell her _everything_ , though I doubt she could handle it if I did. Instead I would tell her the basics.

"Okay, okay, fine." I said with a sigh. "What do you want to know?"

At this Asami kind of froze again, not really sure where to go from here. It looked like she had about a-half-a-million questions for me, and she couldn't figure out which one she wanted to ask first.

Finally, after a moment or two of thought, she turned back to me with a look of determination and curiosity.

"Okay, first I want to know…what kind of man is he?" She asked seriously

I raised my eyebrow in surprise. I honestly hadn't expected such a…mature answer. I figured she would ask stupid stuff like what's his favorite color or something. If she did then I was just going to respond like dad would, which is to say, like a dick.

"Okay, that's a surprisingly _not_ stupid question." I respond bluntly, to which she pouts in response.

Just when it looks like she's about to say something, I continue what I was going to say.

"But to answer your question…" I begin with a hint of teasing, delaying my response to be as dramatic as possible.

"…He's kind of...insane." I answer thoughtfully, trying to find the word I want to use.

Asami reals back like I just punched her in the face with a look of complete surprise.

Susanoo raises an eyebrow in surprise.

And Kali's face contorts into one of confusion and surprise.

"He's _what?_ " Asami questions in disbelief.

"Okay, you caught me." I concede.

"Oh, good. For a second you had-" Asami begins to say in relief.

"He's _completely_ fucking insane." I amend bluntly.

" _What_?!" She questions incredulously.

"Yeah, dad's fucking insane. He's also kind of a dick." I answer.

Asami, at this point, is looking torn between disbelief and depression.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Susanoo asks suspiciously and lowly.

"I'm not saying he's a bad guy, per say. That being said, he _is_ a terrible person." I answer cryptically.

"You're going to have to explain this to us." Susanoo requests.

"Yeah, dad's kind of both a complicated and simple guy." I respond

"What does that even mean?" Kali asks, bewildered by my odd and cryptic answers.

I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration, knowing that what I have to tell them isn't going to be easy for Asami, considering how much she idolizes him. Ironically enough, dad would love this. He absolutely _loves_ crushing the spirits of those who idolize him.

 _Well_

I suppose he loves crushing spirits in general.

Anyways…

"Okay. Lets start over." I begin again.

"You guys seem to think dad's some kind of hero of justice or something, right?" I ask

"Yeah! He helped the avatar save the world, right?" Kali responds with stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, he fought with skill and cunning, using his mind to win and not just his power. He fought against the discrimination of non-benders by benders, and encouraged people to think with their heads instead of following others mindleslly." Asami added.

"Grandmother said he was kind of a dick. Smart, powerful, and not some kind of power hungry asshole, but still a dick." Susanoo commented.

"Actualy that's pretty accurate." I say somewhat surprised but that.

"Really?!" Asami asked happily, overjoyed that she was actually right.

"No, I meant _Susanoo_ was right. In a nutshell, that's what dad is. Smart, powerful, not evil, but kind of a dick." I answer, to which Asami visibly deflated.

Again.

"Dad's not a hero. In fact dad kind of thinks heroes are stupid, or at least the idea of them _actually_ existing in the real world is. He tends to be under the belief that if there _was_ a paragon of absolute justice and heroics in reality, they wouldn't live long." I explain.

"So…if he's not a hero, and doesn't believe in them, what is he?" Kali asked

"Well, first and foremost, he's a father. He cares about me, my sister, and mom probably more than anything else in the world. That being said…science is a _damn_ close second." I answer.

This, of course, gets Asami's attention.

"Wait, are you saying your dad's a scientist?" She asks, perking up with stars in her eyes.

I almost want to take a picture.

That or run away.

Far. Far. Away.

"Well, less of a scientist and more of an engineer." I answer back

"I knew it! My dad's engineer too! Is he like him?!" She asked, now practically glowing with some combination of happiness, pride, and validation.

It _disturbs_ me.

But, I don't let them know that

"Uh…maybe? What's your dad like?" I asked, not knowing anything about Asami's dad.

"How do you not kno-right. You're not from here." She said, initially confused as to how I've never heard of her father.

"Nope. Is your dad famous or something?" I asked.

"Yeah, I told you my dad's Hiroshi Sato, right? Well here he's a famous wealthy industrialist and the inventor of the satomobile." She explained.

"The _what_?" I asked, I had no idea what the hell a satomobile was.

"Ha-have you never heard of a satomobile? Do they not have them in your world?" She asked with a gasp. Apparently satomobiles were a fairly common thing.

"It's the thing she hit you with." Susanoo explained flatly

"Oh. You mean an _automobile_. Yeah no I usually just call those cars." I said in realization of what she was talking about, correcting what she said.

She frowned and scrunched up her eyebrows as stared at me, "No, I mean a _satomobile_. As in Hiroshi  Sato." She correct my correction.

"Bullshit." I denied. That was the stupidest thing I've ever heard

 _Sato_ _mobile? Really? That sounds like bullshit._

"Wha-it is not! My dad invented them for crying out loud! I should know what they're called!" Asami defend indignantly

"Yeah, and calling them satomobiles is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Who ever heard of someone so narcissistic that they named their invention after themselves?" I countered

"My dad is not a narcissist!" She defended

"Then why would he name his greatest invention after himself? Sounds like narcissism to me." I countered

"Because he…well… I don't know! I didn't invent them! But he is a _great_ father!"

"You know it's okay for him to be a bit of a narcissist right? I never said it was a bad thing." I said, trying to make her feel better.

"Yeah." She sighed in acknowledgement, "Okay, I guess he is a little bit of a narcissist."

"It is a stupid name though." Susanoo stated flatly, which earned him a frown from Asami and a laugh from Kali.

"Asami, they're right you know, it _is_ a stupid name, don't tell me you really believe _satomobile_ is a good name for them?" Kali said with a bright smile, trying to suppress her chuckling.

"Well….I did think it was a little…unscientific." She admitted

"And that's why they're really called _automobiles_." I chimed in

"That name does make more sense." Kali agreed

"From a scientific standpoint." Susanoo added.

"I…I don't know guys, I'm used to calling them satomobiles." Asami said, reluctant to turn her back on something pretty integral to her entire life. I mean it sounded like her father had built their entire life on these.

"How about I just call them cars so I don't insult your family's name or anything. Besides, that's what everyone actually calls them where I'm from." I proposed

"Cars? Hmm. Why cars?" She asked, thinking about it.

"We call them cars because…I don't know." I stated with a smile, one which persisted even after I realized I had no idea why cars where called cars.

"You don't know?" Asami asked skeptically

"No! Nobody does! We all just call them cars!" I defended emphatically, "Maybe because it's easier to say or something."

"It is faster to say." Susanoo pointed out.

"I like cars." Kali agreed.

"Yeah, I guess I can work with cars." Asami acknowledged with a sigh and a nod of her head.

"Yay. We've established that _cars_ are _cars_." I said flatly, pointing out how pointless this actually was. " This may have been as bad as when as I had to argue with Korra about bending being magic."

"Except she was too stubborn to actually admit that they're the same thing." Susanoo pointed out.

"Yeah, that's true. Congratulations Asami, you're not as much of a bull headed idiot as the avatar." I said half serious trying to bring her spirits back up after our little argument.

"Yay." She said sarcastically.

"So, going back to what you said earlier, how long have you guys had cars? You made it sound like cars weren't a new thing like they are here. Like they've been around so long that their name's changed." Kali insightfully pointed out.

"Pft, cars are pretty old for us." I admitted dismissively with a wave of my hand.

"They are?" Asami asked, now thoroughly interested in this.

"Yeah, I'd say that they've been around for about…" I started as I got into my thoughtful stance, trying to recall about when cars first became a thing and then doing the math to find the difference. "…Huh, well, shit. I'd say they've been around for about 150 years. Ish." I realized.

"What! But cars have only been around here for a few decades at most!" Kali exclaimed in surprise.

"Actually that kind of makes sense. I mean the extreme difference _is_ surprising, but the fact that there _is_ a difference makes sense." Asami said thoughtfully.

"Explain." Susanoo demanded with a raised brow in confusion.

"well Sarah already explained that there was some kind of time difference between our worlds, hers had only experienced 30 or so years since her father was last here, while ours experienced 70 years. It's not unreasonable to assume that other things related to time are significantly different.

Not only that but the Iron Dragon was said to have mysterious magical items, but considering how much you say he was into science and engineering Sarah, I bet they were just highly advanced technological devices." Asami explained. I was impressed, she had managed to figure it all out with a minimum of clues.

"Wow, that's pretty good Asami. I'm surprised you were able to figure that all out with such little to work with." I said, complimenting her.

"You are completely right though, I'm effectively from the future, but I don't have to worry about paradoxes and shit." I answer

"That means I can fuck with your world as much as I want without destroying time!" I add with somewhat maniacal laughter.

Okay, _very_ maniacal laughter

The others look at me with various levels of disturbed looks ranging from, _'that's odd'_ , to, _'freaked the fuck out!'_.

Finally, after a moment of insane laughter followed by disturbed stares, Susanoo breaks the silence.

"You're from the future?" Susanoo asked skeptically.

"Well, effectively. By which I mean I have future tech and stuff. I don't actually _know_ the future or anything, just a bit of future science." I explained.

"Do you have any machines from you're world to show us!" Asami asked excitedly, obviously elated at the prospect of seeing tech from the "future".

"Yeah, why don't you actually prove that this all true." Susanoo said.

"What? Don't you believe me?" I said sarcastically, I could understand why he might still doubt me. After all, this was a little unbelievable.

"No, I think you're telling us what you believe is the truth, but you could just be completely delusional." Susanoo explained, pointing at me.

"Okay, fair enough." I admitted. "Fortunately enough for everybody, I do have such a device. And it is damn near everything-proof so Korra didn't melt it." I said as I pulled out my chronicler.

"This…" I said as I held out the small black angular rod-diamond thingy of a device in front of me, "Is called a Chronicler."

"…What does it do?" Asami asked in awe.

"This." I said as I pressed the on button, causing it to light up and project an image onto its holographic screen. It lit up the dark room, casting shadows in every direction, and bathing their faces in light. Their stunned faces.

"Whoa." Everyone said at once.

Right now it was at the central menu, but with by interacting with the holographic screen I sent it to my messages, and the one I got from Mary.

"The Chronicler is a device that can do…well there's not a lot it _can't_ do, but the central function of its ancestor, the phone, was to communicate with people far away." I explained

"Wait, so that's a phone?" Asami asked

"Yes. But's it's also a music player." I said as I flipped to the music app, chose a song and played it. The second I pressed the play button the frame shifted slightly, some panel shifting out of the way to expose speakers, and it started to sing.

And it sung the sweet sweet melody of All of the Lights by Kanye West. What can I say? I like the classics. Besides, the whole, "All of the Lights" thing seemed fitting for the moment. The sound filled the whole room and the others could barely believe what they were seeing and hearing.

"Whoa" I got again.

"That's…weird." Kali said stunned. The other two nodded in agreement.

"I've never heard anything like this before." Asami said, stunned.

"Oh right, you guys probably don't have music anywhere close to this, do you." I realized. I had completely forgotten about how much music had changed over the years too.

"No we don't" She agreed.

Once the song finished I turned off the music app and went back to the menu.

"I can see why people would call that magic. I can scarcely believe it's not and you've already said it's not." Asami admitted.

"I guess this proves everything you were saying." Susanoo admitted, acknowledging I wasn't completely delusional.

"I should hope it does, if this doesn't prove I'm who I say I am I don't know what will." I said.

"Wait, so if this how advanced _phones_ are, then how advanced are satomobiles?" Asami asked, finally realizing the extreme difference between our worlds from a technological standpoint.

"Cars." I corrected.

"Whatever." She dismissed with a wave of her hand

"Well, how 'bout I show you?" I suggested as I flipped to the pictures section of I the chronicler, then pulled up a photo of one of my dad's cars.

I was feeling like _really_ showing off so I activated the extended holo-projectors. The frame shifted again, and fire four small projectors attached to thin wires into the ceiling. The projectors went as far into the four corners of the room as they could, and had more than enough slack to allow me to move the chronicler wherever I wanted in the room. The projectors it fires off were subtle enough that if you weren't looking for them you probably wouldn't notice them.

I pressed the project button and like magic, a massive life-sized 3d projection of the car popped up above the phone, giving the illusion that a ghostly future car was floating above my hand. The car was sleek, white, and angular in form, with an aggressive, fierce look that screamed performance. It looked like a white spearhead piercing the air.

For added flair I pressed the button that revved the simulated engine and it produced the sounds of its roaring engine. It flared to life, lighting up and filling the room with the roof shaking purring of the engine. The others found it very surprising.

"AH!" They cried in surprise as a massive ghost car suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"What is _**that**_?!" Asami cried in surprise.

"A Lamborghini. Nice huh?" I said, very proud at the results of what I had done. I pressed the button again, causing it to lurch forward at them.

"A what?" She asked, somewhat fearfully. Not surprising because to her it looked that the magic ghost car I summoned now wanted to eat her. Well, all of them really

"Magic. It's totally magic." Susanoo said in completely in disbelief and fear. Even he was slightly intimidated by the ghost lambo, and given that they were completely unfamiliar with this technology, I wasn't terribly surprised.

"It's not magic." I denied causally.

"Then explain the future ghost car." He said.

"Sure. Well, actually I only understand part of it, if you want more then you'll have to ask dad. Actually, maybe Mary knows more." I answered before continuing. "Whatever, you see those projectors in the corners of the room? You can see them because they're shining a light at the car."

They turned their heads and tried to find each projector.

"Yeah." The acknowledged after spotting them.

"They project an image of the car where it is here, and a…thing, I think it's a gas or something, anyway it captures the light and reflects it in a way that it creates the illusion of a car. Well, when combined with the projectors in the chronicler. It's called a hologram, and it's centered on the chronicler." I explained.

"Whoa" Asami said

"…I'll accept it." Susanoo acknowledged at considering it for a moment. "It's more than bending is ever explained."

"That's true." Kali admitted

"This, this is amazing." Asami said in complete awe, although not just of the hologram technology, "That car is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I mean it has four wheels, but that's where the similarities end."

"Yeah, your cars are pretty shitty." I said bluntly.

"What did you call? A…Rombortini? What does that mean?" She asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Lamborghini." I correct before continuing. "And it's the name of the manufacturer, the company who makes the cars. They make high performance hyper cars, ones made to go fast and look good doing it. This specific model of car is called the Raton Asesino." I explained.

"Oh, like Cabbage Corp and Future Industries." Asami said, understanding what I was talking about.

"Yeah, I guess." I said, I had never heard of those two companies, but it sounded like she got the idea.

"So this is a race car of the future." Kali said, staring at it.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome, this is one of my dad's favorites, but he has a fairly large collection." I explained.

"So is this what your dad does? Make cars like this?" Asami asked.

"Hm? Oh no, he didn't make this, he bought it." I explained

"He didn't make it? I thought you said he was an engineer?" Kali asked.

"Does he not make cars?" Asami asked, having a little more insight into this area than the others.

"No, not really. Dad's an aerospace engineer." I explained.

"…What's a…aerospace engineer?" Kali asked, trying to pronounce the unfamiliar word.

"It sounds like an engineer that works on airships. Is that what he does, build airships?" Asami said, answering Kali's question.

"Pft hell no." I dismissed with a snort of amusement.

 _Airships, ha!_ I thought to myself. There's no way dad would _ever_ want to work on airships.

"Well, at least the ones you're talking about." I muttered.

"Wait, if he doesn't work on _air_ ships as an _aero_ space engineer, then what does he build?" Asami asked slightly deflated at being incorrect.

"Well don't feel too bad, it's not that you're totally wrong, it's just that nobody really uses airships anymore. I mean there are a few blimps around, but on the whole they're not really a thing." I explained, trying to make Asami feel better.

"Oh, okay thanks." She said, cheering up to the fact that she was on the right track, but then she came to the next logical conclusion and frowned, "Wait, if you don't have airships then…what does he work on?" She asked.

"Oh come on, what else do you have that flies?" I asked suggestively, trying to give her a hint without giving it all away. She was so close!

"Umm….Nothing? I can't think of anything else that flies." She said, confused as to what I meant

"Air bison?" Kali suggested

"No, they're animals, not machines. An engineer wouldn't work on them." Asami said, flagging that suggestion down.

"How about the air bender's gliders? They're manmade and I know of an inventor that created some that could be used without air bending." Susanoo suggested.

"That…might work. Is that it? Does he make gliders?" Asami asked, seeking answers.

I frowned. They were…close, but I wasn't sure why they couldn't guess planes, unless…

"Do you guys not have airplanes?" I asked, genuinely confused. Given the time period I would have figured that planes were a thing by now. Maybe not a big thing, but definitely something people as educated as they would have heard of.

"Nooooo? What's an airplane?" Asami asked slowly

"Huh. That's a little odd, would have thought you guys would have had them by now. Guess I was wrong." I muttered before answering her question. "Okay, I don't know much about the air mage's gliders, they might be like planes but they might not, so I'll just start from scratch. Airplanes are flying machines."

"Like airships?" Kali asked

"No, nothing like zeppelins. Airships are fat, lazy, slow, ugly, old, and flammable pieces of shit. Planes are graceful, fast, sleek, maneuverable, and badass." I explained

"That sounds impressive, but what does that mean?" Asami asked, digging for the truth.

"Um…" I murmured as I thought of the best way to explain it, then I had a spark of inspiration. "Okay, so you know how airships just float around like floating cows?" I asked rhetorically.

"air bison." Susanoo…corrected? I guess flying cows are actually a think here. Weird.

"Sure." I acknowledged dismissively before continuing. "Anyways, planes soar through the air like birds."

"Birds?" Asami asked for verification.

"Birds" I confirmed

"Birds?" Susanoo said skeptically.

"Birds." I confirmed again.

"Birds?" Kali asked, wondering how that was possible.

I sighed, quickly tiring of this and I just decided to show them. I looked back at my chronicler and searched for an image of one of dad's planes. I decided to go for the only one that would actually fit in the room. After browsing for a few seconds, which earned me the inquisitive looks of my friends I finally found the model I wanted. I still had to shrink it down a bit to get it to fit in the room in such a way that they would actually be able to see it.

I pressed the button and, bam. The X-02 Wyvern appeared in the room. Its sleek form with its forward swept wings looked badass. Definitely worthy of the name. The others, having never seen a plane, were understandably impressed.

"Oh." Asami said, at a loss for words.

"I understand what you meant now." Susanoo said, once again coming off the surprise quite quickly.

"It kinda looks like a giant metal bird." Kali said, perceptive as always.

"It's called the SIEG X-02 Wyvern. One of my dad's favorite creations." I said, beaming with pride

"It's so small." Kali said

"Small?" I asked, I usually didn't think of planes as small, so for her to call it small just didn't sound right. I mean it was, technically one of the smaller flying machines dad has built, relatively. But calling it small still felt wrong. It's like calling a yacht small. Yeah, it is compared to shipping vessels and military ships, but calling it small still feels wrong.

"Yeah, it's way smaller than airships." Kali pointed out.

"Ah, right, well airships are fat and stupid." I pointed out, "Actually this isn't life size, I shrunk it a bit to fit in the room."

"So this thing flies like a bird?" Susanoo asked skeptically.

"Yeah, why?" I asked

"I just want to know how, I don't see any propellers or anything." He stated.

"And how does it stay in the air? Air ships use gases to literally become lighter than air, but I don't see enough space to hold nearly enough gas to make it float." Asami asked, her engineering mind at work.

"Okay, I'll explain what I know, but remember, my dad's the expert, not me." I warned, "First off, so you get a real sense of how big it is, here is the cockpit." I said as I shrunk the model a bit more and manipulated it so they could get a better view of the cockpit. Then I tapped the hologram's cockpit and it opened revealing the interior.

"Wait, there's only one seat." Asami said, confused, "are you saying this thing is designed hold one person in _that_?" She asked

"Yup, this isn't a passenger plane, it's a fighter jet, made for the military. It's made for speed, maneuverability, and firepower." I explained

"In other words it's made to be brutally efficient at killing people." Susanoo summarized.

"Yeah, pretty much." I agreed.

"Wait, your dad makes weapons?" Kali asked, horrified.

"Yeah, I mean that's not _all_ he makes, but it is a large part of it." I answered.

"You haven't answered my questions." Asami pouted.

"Huh? Oh right! You wanted to know how it worked, didn't you?" I said

"Yes." She pouted

"Okay, again I'm not an expert on this so…" I warned again

"Just get to it!" She urged

"Okay, sheesh. Alright, planes don't fly using any gas to float, instead they fly like birds do." I began

"By flapping their wings?" Kali guessed.

"No, birds do that for initial lift and thrust, but it's not how they stay in the air. Instead it's due to the shape of their wings." I continued, fiddling with the hologram again so they could get a closer view of the wing's shape.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Susanoo asked, I wasn't sure is he was just being an ass or if he really wanted to know.

"Well if I'm remembering it correctly the wing's shape makes it so that air on the top flows faster than air on the bottom of it. That makes it so that the air pressure on the bottom is greater than on the top, making it so that the air itself pushes the wing up." I explained as I struggled to remember what dad nearly beat into my brain.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"How does the air speed affect air pressure? " Kali asked

"That…actually makes some sense." Asami said thoughtful, gears turning in her head as she figured it all out. "But that would only work if it's going fast enough, otherwise there wouldn't be enough lift for it to fly."

"True, and it's the same thing with birds. Whenever they hover they just flap their wings to provide lift by throwing air at the ground." I acknowledged.

"So how does it get up to a high enough speed to make that work? I mean you can't just push it to get that fast, it would need some serious speed to get enough lift to stay airborne." Asami thought out loud.

"Exactly! And it's all thanks to these babies." I said, now showing off the exhaust portion of the jet's engines on its ass.

"What are those?" Kali asked

"I've never seen anything like them before, I couldn't really hazard a guess at what they do." Asami admitted.

"They're jet engines. They shoot out superheated air superfast. Air that is sucked in from here." I said as I turned the plane around, now showing off the intakes.

"Wait, how do they do that?" Asami asked

"I don't really know. I'm sure this contains a detailed diagram of it, but I can't remember how it works. I think it's something like a series of controlled explosions in a series of small fans in a small tube." I tried to explain.

"So it's like a…super propeller?" Kali suggested nervously.

"With fire and explosions." I amended before saying in agreement. "Close enough."

"Well Asami, as the resident engineer, did that make any sense?" He asked her.

"Kind of? That made a little bit of sense, but if you're…what'd you call it? A chronicler?" Asami asked

"yup" I answered.

"Thanks. If your chronicler has detailed diagrams on this that would probably explain everything." She said

"Normally this is the part where the person says, 'No! You're not prepared for this technology! It'll destroy you!' or something." I said jokingly.

"So are you going to keep it from me for the 'safety of our world' or something." Asami asked, slightly annoyed at the idea that I would tell her about all this amazing technology, dangle the blueprints for it in front of her face, and then say she can't have it.

"Fuck that, go nuts." I said as I tossed the chronicler to her, causing the hologram to go nuts for a second.

"Really?" Asami asked, as if she could believe it was true.

"Really?" Susanoo asked, as if he wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kali asked

"Yeah, I always thought the idea that a people could be 'unprepared' for technology, and thus unworthy of it was stupid. I mean, sure it can fall into the wrong hands, but you seem like a decent person, I doubt you'll try to conquer the world with it or anything." I said, half joking

"Wow, I don't know what to say." Asami said, staring at the chronicler as if it was the key to the universe.

"Well don't let it go to your head, I doubt you could make even half the stuff in that thing, you don't have the industry, foundation, or resources for it. I mean they aren't exactly instructional diagrams." I warned. "Also you can't keep it, I'll need it back before I go. I mean you can look at it when I come over, but I should actually keep an eye on it. We only have two of those and it loses a lot of its usefulness if you only have one." I explained

"Oh, yeah sure, I understand, I'll give it back right before you go. You had better come back soon though." She demanded firmly

"Congratulations, she's always had a problem with sleeping and now she'll never do it." Susanoo chastised

"Oh, and one final thing, while you may know him as "Augustine, the Iron Dragon", he actually prefers to go by the name Daedalus, Augustine's more of a…penname now." I explained

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Asami asked, once again interested in what's going on with my father.

"Well, I don't know the whole story myself, and it's kind of complicated, but what I _do_ know is that Augustine is basically his "War Hero" persona, something he uses to distract others and keep them off his back. He tends to find people trying to kiss up to him _severely_ annoying, and as such the mythic war hero that he is known as is just a cover he throws away when not doing world saving business." I explained.

"You make it sounds like he saves the world on a regularly basis?" Susanoo questions teasingly.

"Yeah, _grudgingly_. He doesn't really do it because he's selfless, but because he finds that the world gets pretty fucking annoying when it's in complete and total chaos.

So he'd prefer it'd kind of not do that." I explain in good humor.

Asami nods in acceptance and directs her attention back to the chronicler I gave her.

"That reminds me, you guys asked all about my dad, and I know that Asami's dad is an industrialist, Susanoo's is a powerful UF general, but what about your mom Kali? What does she do?" I asked genuinely curious.

"Oh, yeah I was adopted by the chief of police, Lin Beifong, the woman who dropped me off at the police station." Kali explained

 _Wait what? Her_ _mom_ _is the_ _Chief of Police_ _?! Shit!_ I thought

"…What?" I said speechless

"What?" Kali asked, not knowing what was wrong

"Oh! That's right, I forgot." Susanoo said, realizing what was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Kali asked, really confused. Asami was too busy fiddling with my chronicler to either notice or care.

"Uh Red, your mom is the Chief of Police." Susanoo began to explain as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah" She answered.

"And to the White Lotus Sarah _kidnapped_ the avatar." He pointed out.

"…oh." She said simply, finally connecting the dots.

"Give the girl a prize! She realizes the shit I'm in." I said sarcastically

"Well I could just not tell mom about you." Kali suggested.

"Red, we both know you can't lie to her." Susanoo countered

"I don't have to lie… I just have to…not bring it up." She answered

"Didn't you already bring her up?" Susanoo countered again.

"Yeah, but I don't have to tell her about how she kidnapped the avatar, or is the daughter of the Iron Dragon. I don't even have to say she's a metal bender. All mom thinks she knows is that Sarah is a powerful non-bender of the water tribes who helped save me along with you, and now she's my friend." Kali explained.

"I guess it could work." I said, thinking out loud.

"It better, wouldn't want my new friend to get arrested by my other friend's mother." Susanoo said.

And so ended that line of questioning. The rest of the night went on fairly fast, Asami would ask me questions about something she found in the chronicler, which I quickly realized I would have adjust it so some things were locked away from her. She still hasn't gotten the hang of using the holographic controls just yet, which isn't surprising.

I also talked a bunch with Susanoo and Kali before I finally left, mostly about a good place to get a job. Kali said I might could try and enter the police academy, that her mother could pull some strings to help get me in, seeing as how I fought off an army of thugs to defend her daughter. I declined, not really wanting to join the police force. I was more of rebel, not really someone who wanted to be part of the system.

When I finally left Susanoo practically had to drag Asami away from my chronicler. She made me promise that I would come back tomorrow, and I made her promise to help me find a job. The others agreed to join us.

So I said my goodbyes and left, happy that I had made three _interesting_ new friends.

* * *

 _A/n: Sorry this chap took so long, I know I said like one a day, but that's been a little harder to do than I thought._

 _Also, we get a lot more insight into Sarah's world, and you might have realized one of the most important things about what she said._

 _Sarah and Mary are from the future._

 _Not the far flung future, mind you._

 _If you paid attention and did a little mental math, you'd have figured out that Sarah and Mary came from around 2050._

 _Why did I do that?You'll find out later, but it is important to the plot._

 _Very_ _important._

 _Sorry, though, if this chap is boring._

 _I didn't want it to be, but I did feel like everything that was said here needed to be said. _

_Now you can see why I didn't want to split scene 11 in half._

 _But in any case, this was the last chapter for this episode. Darkness is done, next is Stormfront_

 _But, that's about it._

 _War out._


	13. Scene 13: A Rainy Day

Scene 13, Chap 13

A Rainy Day

 **Kali pov**

The next couple of days went pretty quickly, Asami used her father's resources to try and find a job best suited for Sarah while we all hung out at her place. Asami's mansion was mostly empty, her father was always working and the house was so big that having a few servants around didn't really make it seem any livelier.

That's one of the things about her place, after the Night of the Blood Moon, it always seemed….empty, dead. Like it was just a big house, and not a home. Some people found it unnerving. It never really affected me.

But then,

I never was very normal.

That mourning I had another nightmare, once again waking up in terror. It had been happening every night since the first one now, and it fraying my nerves, not that I would let it show on the outside, but my mom knew what was happening.

The same thing happened years ago when they first started, right after the incident, she had seen this before. And just as before she didn't know what to do, and it killed her. Mom was the type of person who liked to have the problem be something physical, something she could either solve with detective work, or solve with a fist.

But something like this?

Something psychological?

She had no idea what to do. All she could do was get me out of work, knowing that right now I was in no mindset to do anything about it. Considering what had happened a few days ago, I wasn't inclined to argue with that anymore.

That being said, I got the feeling like there was something she wasn't telling me about this. Something about my dreams. I knew I would never get it out of her, so I decided to try and ignore it, but it was still there. The feeling that there was something more to my dream.

That mourning when I went into the kitchen I remembered Sarah's predicament with the law, and by extension, my mother. I decided to ask mom about them, since I hadn't actually heard much about them from mom. I wondered if they had contacted her about the avatar, and what she thought of them.

"Hey mom, have you heard of the White Lotus?" I asked as I sat down in front of my breakfast.

"The White Lotus? Yeah, it'd be kind of hard for me not to, considering what they do." She answered as she took another sip of coffee.

"What do you know about them?" I asked, trying to go at it from another angle.

"They're a group set up by the previous avatar to safeguard the current avatar. They're supposed to act as her body guards. Apparently they found the avatar as a child and started her protection and training when she was only 5." She answered.

"Huh. Isn't that kind of young?" I asked, still fishing. If I had been in my right mind I might have backed off.

"Yeah, I thought so. It seemed a bit much to put the weight of the world on such small shoulders, but at the same time, as I understand it, her protection actually turned out to be warranted. But regardless, it's out of my hands. Nothing I can do about it." She answered. Taking another sip.

"What would you do if the avatar was in the city? Without the White Lotus's authority?" I asked, going just a little bit farther.

She looked up from the newspaper she was reading and stared directly at me. "That's an awfully specific question. What's this all about?" She asked as her gaze bore directly into my soul. I couldn't lie, but I couldn't tell the truth either.

Well not all of it.

"Uh…A friend of mine just brought up the idea that the avatar was imprisoned by the white lotus, and wondered what would happen if they ever escaped." I said. It wasn't technically a lie, but it wasn't exactly the whole truth either, hopefully it would be enough to fool mom.

"Hmp" she grunted as she turned back to her newspaper and took another sip of coffee. "Well if the avatar ever did come here I would have no problem with her as long as she didn't stir up trouble. If she stayed out of my way then we'd get along just fine." She answered.

"And what if the White Lotus wanted you to help re-capture her?" I asked. I knew in the back of my mind that I was really going too far with this, but I had to know.

She glanced away from her paper again, looking me in the eyes for a moment before saying, "Depends on how much of a troublemaker she's being, and how pushy the White Lotus are."

"What if she's just being a law-abiding citizen?" I asked, pushing even further.

"Then the White Lotus can get the hell out of my city. I'm not going to have them arrest one of my law-abiding citizens, even if they are the avatar." She replied sternly, with a touch bite in there.

"Oh, Okay." I replied sheepishly, apparently I had touched on something I shouldn't have. I don't know what, but I might have reminded her about something unpleasant she had to deal with related to this.

"Who did you say asked you about this again?" She said after a moment, obviously her cop senses were going off. Although maybe it was her mom senses? Now that I thought about it having a lie-detecting police chief of a mom should be enough for me to know not to keep secrets from her, or at least don't dangle them in front of her.

"Um…" I started as I scrambled to think of what to do, what to say. I mean I couldn't lie, mom would pick up on that instantly, but what would happen if I admitted that Sarah brought it up? She wasn't one of my old friends that mom knew, she might think that made Sarah suspicious. But, again, I couldn't lie to her. That would be infinitely more suspicious.

"It was my new friend, the one I told you about? The one who helped Susanoo rescue me?" I admitted.

"Oh, that one. I still don't like that you went outside at _night,_ by  yourself, _after_ one of your nightmares. You know how you get after those." She criticized sharply

"I'm sorry, okay, I don't know what I was thinking, I wasn't in my right mind." I apologized. I really don't know why I did that, and that scared me, but I wasn't going to tell mom what was happening, I didn't want to make her worry even more.

She sighed, put down her newspaper, took a sip of her coffee, and said, "I know, I forgive you. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Thanks mom." I said with a soft smile, hearing how much she cared for me always brightened me up a bit.

"I should actually thanks these two friends of yours, especially the new one. She didn't even know you, but she risked her life to help a stranger. She must be a very brave girl. I should meet her sometime." Mom said, once again scaring me.

 _What if the Lotus already approached her? What if they gave a description of Sarah? She's pretty distinctive, so mom would instantly know it was her. But I can't_ _not_ _do it, and I can't lie about it. Oh I shouldn't have brought any of this up. This is bad._ I thought as I got nervous again. I knew what I had to do, but I _really_ didn't like it.

"Um…yeah, sure. That sounds good." I said nervously.

"How about you ask her when she's free, ask Susanoo too. I'd like both of them to come over, _soon_." She said in that voice that made something that made something that sounded as innocent as when my friends could come over for dinner, like an order for me to bring them in for interrogation. Which it probably was.

"O-okay. Sure, I'll ask them" I responded on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Now she was dragging Susanoo into this, or maybe I dragged him into this. I'm such an idiot. At least I hadn't dragged Asami into it.

"Actually why don't you ask Asami if she can come over too. I haven't seen her in a while either." She said casually.

 _I hate me_ I thought to myself

"Wha? I mean when should they come over? What if their schedules don't align with you?" I said, treading water, on the verge of a panic attack.

"Oh, I'm _sure_ you'll figure something out, you know my schedule and you're good at this sort of thing." She said, and that was it. That was the last nail in the coffin. I was doomed. Well Sarah was doomed, but I was the one who doomed her. I had practically condemned her to death.

"Okay." I said in defeat. She had crushed my defenses. I flew too close to the sun with my questioning, and now I had to pay the price. Now Sarah had to pay the price. The price of my foolishness, my incompetence.

"Good, now stay safe. I'll be back from work same time as always." She said as she headed out the door.

"By mom, love you." I said quietly as she closed the door behind her.

When she was gone I silently cursed to myself, "Shit." At what I had done.

* * *

I decided to head over to Asami's place and then get everyone together to decide what to do about mom. The whole way there I was just thinking over and over again how badly this would end. Considering how Sarah acted I had a feeling she and my mom wouldn't get along very well. Sarah was very rebellious, and tended to think of the law as more of a guideline, and that the only real rule that mattered was the one to do right by others who deserved it.

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn't notice when someone bumped into me and walked off with a lazy apology. It was only when I realized that I was missing my purse that I realized that I had been robbed. I cursed and looked around trying to find the crook when I spotted a child in a strange hat running off with my purse.

"Stop, give that back!" I cried out in vain.

He ran as fast as he could toward an alley, easily outpacing me. Once he dived into the maze of alleyways there would be no way I would catch him, and I wasn't going to try. Not after what happened last time. I pushed myself harder to try and catch up with him, going as fast as I could, but it was no use. I considered using my last resort, but I decided that that would be going too far, especially in front of all these people. So all I could do was watch as all my money, all my trinkets, disappeared into the bowels of the city.

But then someone came to my rescue.

A young man, about my age, grabbed the kid by the back of his collar, lifting him off the ground. He looked straight at the boy, taking the purse from the boy's hands, and said, "Really Skootchy? This is low. Stick with what your good at." Before dropping him back on the ground. The little boy ran off after cursing the young man with words I dare not repeat.

The young man turned his attention to me and started to walk my way. As he walked closer I got a closer look at his features. He had a distinctive fire nation look, with amber eyes, black hair, and pale skin. He was tall, wearing mostly grey clothes and a spikey haircut, although his eyebrows looked a bit…odd. They reminded me of sharks for some reason. The only other piece of color on him, other than his eyes, was his matching red scarf. It was wrapped around his neck, trailing a bit behind him and flapping in the wind.

"Is this your purse mam?" He asked sincerely, his intense amber eyes gazing into mine, putting me into a trance as he held my purse up to me.

"Y-yes. Thank you." I was finally able to say, gently grabbing it and taking it back. He looked a bit like a younger, more handsome version of Susanoo. A much more handsome version. Though that might be because I thought of Susanoo as an older brother. I didn't much like the idea of thinking of my older brother as hot. That would just be weird.

"I can't believe all these people would just stand here and watch this happen." He said firmly.

"You didn't" I was able to say. I could feel my face heat up as the blood rushed to it. I was thankful for my dark complexion and that my hair hid half my face, but I was still worried he could tell I was blushing.

"Um, well I couldn't just stand by at let something like this happen to somebody, it was nothing." He said as he turned his head way, rubbing the back of his head as he tried to hide _his_ blush.

"Not to me." I said whole heartedly, for me it always meant something when I got rescued, when I got helped by my friends, and considering how much trouble I stumble into that was a lot of heroics on their belt. But whenever a stranger helped me it felt…special. They didn't know me, and they had no reason to go out of their way to help me, and yet they do. And now it had happened twice in a week! And while Sarah did a lot more to rescue me, helping Susanoo fight off an army of thugs, there was something about this man that made him special. Something about him that made my heart pound and blood run hot. I had to know more about him.

So, once again about to do something probably stupid, I dived right in. "Wha-what's your name?" I asked nervously. When I say dived right in I meant how I usually do it, nervously.

"Uh, I'm Mako. And you?" He said, trying not to look me in the eye, but soon he caught me gaze and couldn't escape it.

"I'm Kali." I replied breathless.

After that we just stared at each other for a moment, no words between us.

"I, uh, I should get going." He said, tearing his gaze away from me as he turned to leave.

I wanted to grab his arm, ask him to stay, but I couldn't. I wanted to ask if I would ever see him again, but my voice caught in my throat and I couldn't say anything. I could only look on as he got lost in the crowd.

"Will I ever see you again?" I asked the wind.

* * *

 **Susanoo pov**

I was over at Asami's house again, as that was where Sarah was currently hanging out. She was quickly becoming part of the group, she easily meshed in, adding her rough and street smart ways to our trio, making it a nicely balanced quartet. Plus, despite being a girl, she was more of a guy, which was a nice change of pace from having to talk to two girly girls all the time. Granted Asami wasn't always a girly girl, but she usually was, especially if Red was there too. Then sometimes everything would devolve into a giggle fest. A disgustingly sweet, spoiled rotten, giddy to death giggle fest. It made me want to kill myself.

But ever since we met Sarah she had been coming over and asking Asami if she had any new leads for jobs or a way back home, the answer, as always, was no. Then she would give Asami her chronicler and she would just tinker with it and the wondrous machines it would project. Sarah called it "movie time", although I didn't know what a movie was.

This time, however, something different happened.

"Well Asami, I got some good news for you." She said as she walked into the room

"Good new? About what? Shouldn't it be the other way around? You know, me finding a lead for you?" Asami questioned in response, not understanding how Sarah could be the one with good news in this relationship.

"I managed to convince Mary to give me her chronicler, which is good for you because it has a lot more stuff I think you'll find interesting." Sarah said, giving the device to Asami.

"This doesn't look like a chronicler." Asami said, confused as she examined it closely.

And she was right, unlike Sarah's chronicler, which looked like a pointy, angular rod or diamond that could alter its shape by shifting around its dark components and panels, this one looked like a large, ornate, silver and gold watch.

"Yeah, well not all chroniclers look the same, they're design based on the user's needs. Mary has one designed like a watch because it's convenient for her. I don't because, well, I like to punch things and stuff, and that doesn't exactly mesh well with delicate wrist-ware." Sarah explained

"Oh, okay. Does it still work the same?" Asami asked, looking for the "on" button.

"Uh, mostly, there are some differences but it's mostly the same." Sarah answered.

"Ah! Found it!" Asami said as she finally found the "on" button.

I wish she hadn't.

The device hummed to life, lighting up light white lights around the device, and then it fired its holo-projectors into the corners of the room. Then they flickered to life and projected an image.

One permanently burned into my mind.

"OH SPRIRITS WHAT IS THAT?!" Asami exclaimed at the horrifying sight

"AH! SARAH WHAT THE FUCK?!" I yelled at Sarah in surprise, thinking the abomination was her fault.

"HEILEGE SCHEIßE FICKEN! WAS ZUM TEUFEL MARY?!" Sarah shouted in surprise in some strange language she's started to curse in, or, at least, I assume she's cursing.

I'm not entirely sure how to describe the hologram Mary's chronicler project, other than a horrifying abomination that defied nature, logic, and the sanctity of life. It was a collage of everything wrong that had never even crossed my mind as being possible.

 **Warning, this contains rather graphic descriptions of some pretty fucked up shit, or at least I think so.**

 **So, you can skip it if you want, just imagine that what they saw was basically a combination of the darkest, dirtiest, most fucked by and disturbingly kinky things that exist on the internet combined.**

 **If you** **do** **read it, and that's not what you get from it, then, well, I'm sorry I fucked up.**

 **I tried my best.**

* * *

The image depicted several animals I had never seen before, although they resembled ostrich-horses without the ostrich, so just horses, as well as a bigger, more muscular animal with horns.

They were all entangled with a large collection of people, who were all naked and wearing animal masks. Frankly it was some kind of disgusting grotesque orgy, but with a slightly dark twist.

A man was being gouged by one of the horns of the horned animal, having it go right into his neck, causing blood to fly out of it. A woman who was being…aggressively courted by one of the horses was practically split in half by its…baby maker.

Another man was having his skull crushed by one of the beast's hoofs, while another woman was…riding him. And among them were a collection of people having an orgy with the beasts and not dying while doing it.

There was an even greater collection of greater sins in that scene I had to bear witness to, many I can't describe, and some I refuse to.

It was the worst thing I had ever seen.

Nightmares weren't even made out of this stuff.

I mean, they were now.

I would never get that scene out of my head, people fucking and getting brutally murdered, everyone getting splashed with their blood, and just reveling in it.

It was disgusting, and I would never get it out of my mind.

* * *

 **End torment**

"TURN IT OFF!" I yelled at Asami, demanding she fix this.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!" She screamed in defense, obviously panicking.

"SARAH, FIX THIS!" I demanded.

Sarah, already on the problem, grabbed the device from Asami and pushed the "off" button, causing it to turn off the hologram, retract the holo-projectors, and shut down with an audible whine.

"Okay, problem solved." She said, relieved.

We all took a second to just…process what the hell just happened.

"Sarah, what the hell was that?" I asked, very shaken, and very angry.

"I…don't know." Sarah said, still somewhat shocked by the surprising turn of events.

"I'm just not going to touch it again." Asami said, wisely choosing to not mess with the watch of indescribable horrors.

* * *

 **Mary pov**

I was in the training room of the pro-bending stadium with Korra and Bolin, and we were sitting there waiting for Mako to show up. Korra and Bolin were sitting there talking about something irrelevant, but I still kept track of what they were saying in case it revealed some valuable information. At that moment, though, my mind began to wander and I thought,

 _I wonder if Sarah opened my present yet?_

It's times like this that I truly show my sisterly affection for my dear Sarah.

Just then, Mako finally showed up. Fortunately he had a very happy aura about him, as if he had just met his future wife, or won the lottery. It was fortunate for me, not him. I loved to crush happiness, to have someone at the height of their happiness, only to have it crash down and die. It was sublime to watch, and even better to actively cause.

"Mako! You're finally here!" Bolin exclaimed

"Finally! We've had to sit here, guessing what was holding you up." Korra said

"Oh, well it was nothing." He said, turning his head to hide his blushing face. He failed.

"Oh! I know that face! You met a girl didn't you?" Bolin said excitedly

"What! No! Don't tell me you met a girl!" Korra said, not anticipating this turn of events, and not liking it.

"Shut up! Why should you care if I met a girl or not!" Mako angrily replied, not liking having his privacy invaded.

"Because I placed a bet with Bolin. I bet that you were late coming back from the factory because you had to fight off a gang of muggers. Bolin guessed that a fan flirted with you." Korra explained

"Wait, you bet on why I would be late?!" He responded, slightly annoyed that they bet on him.

"Yeah! That's why you can't have met a girl! Then Bolin gets the only money I have!" Korra explained, pleading to him.

"Wait, what did Mary bet?" Mako said, now curious.

"I said that you had to chivalrously protect an innocent young girl's livelihood, and in doing so found love." I explained, not bothering to look at him, instead continuing to read my book.

"Yeah, I know, oddly specific and completely…" Bolin started, dismissing my prediction.

"Right." Mako finished breathlessly, stunned that I was able to correctly predict what had happened with such accuracy

"Wait, what?" Bolin said, equally surprised.

"Yeah! I ran into Skootchy, who had snatched a purse. I took it back and it turned out it belonged to this beautiful girl named Kali." He explained, blushing at the mention of the girl's name.

"Wha-how?" Korra said, turning to me.

"It's a secret." I said flatly, not bothering to look at her either.

"Wait, what did you get on this girl? Do you know where she lives? Where she works?" Bolin inquired

"Argh! No!" Mako said, slapping himself in the forehead for his incompetence. "I forgot, I just rushed here after giving her my name."

"Well, she should be able to track you down pretty easily, you're not exactly a hard sports star to find." Bolin said, comforting his brother.

"Yeah, but I don't think she knows anything about pro-bending. She didn't know who I was and didn't react to my name." Mako countered despondently.

"Well cheer up Mako, I'm sure you'll find each other somehow." Korra said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, you're right, I'll track her down, somehow." Mako said, getting a determined look on his face.

"In the meantime you all are to be punished for his incompetence." I declared, still not looking up from my book.

"Wait, what?" Bolin asked fearfully

"You heard me. Mako failed to get here in time. He failed to learn sufficient important information about his love to track her down. This proves that I have failed somewhere in training you. I must rectify that error." I explained, peaking up from my book now.

"Oh no." Korra said fearfully.

"Wait, don't punish them because of what I did! It's my fault! I was late! I forgot to ask anything about her! Punish me!" Mako said, trying to defend his teammates. Admirable, but it wouldn't teach nearly as good a lesson.

With this I loudly closed the book shut with one hand and proceeded to strut over to where the others were standing.

"No Mako, I said it was _I_ who failed. And if I failed Mako, then I have likely failed all of you. I must correct my mistake." I explained, flawlessly imitating sincere remorse for my own failings. I then turned to Mako and said, "I must thank you then Mako, if it wasn't for you I would have never discovered these shortcomings of mine." In what they thought was a heartfelt thank you.

"Great." He said sarcastically.

"Thanks a lot Mako! First you cost me my yuans and now you're gonna get me beat up by Mary." Korra angrily complained. We would fix that, they needed to work as a team, and by the end of today, they would.

"Don't feel too bad. I mean, this is why we're having Mary train us! Because she pushes us harder than we've ever gone before!" Bolin said, trying to raise the team's morale.

I have to say, I kind of liked Bolin. He helped bring the team together and stay together. If it wasn't for him then I would have an even bigger mess to deal with. The only problem was everything else about him. He was useful, yes, but his bravado, cheer, enthusiasm, and innocence made me want to drop him in Rwanda and leave him there.

But at the same time it would make it so much sweeter when I finally broke him, though I would have to be careful when I do it. His annoying features currently have use for me.

But one day…

One day, he will cry for me.

* * *

 **Susanoo pov**

Once we were done spewing what was left of our breakfast into the garbage and had gotten over the horrifying sight we had seen, at least for now, who's to say a relapse isn't possible, Red arrived. But she was…different.

"Hey guys! What's up?!" She said, suspiciously cheerfully.

"You are _so_ lucky to have gotten here late." Asami said

"I am?" She asked, confused as to how being late made her lucky.

"Yes, you are." Asami confirmed.

"There are some things, things that once seen, can't be unseen. No matter how hard you try." Sarah said cryptically, but Asami and I understood what she meant. We knew the horrors.

"Oh, okay." Red answered, confused by the answer but deciding not to push it. "Oh, Hey! What's that?!" She asked curiously when she spotted Mary's chronicler.

As she reached for it we all shouted, "NO!"

"What?" She recoiled in surprise

"Just, don't touch it, okay?" Sarah asked.

"Okay?" Red answered slowly, in a questioning way, but it didn't dampen her mood.

We had all gotten some tea I made to help our stomachs, minds, and throats from all the screaming and retching, and were all sitting around a table in one of Asami's many rooms. Sarah sat across from me, and Asami sat perpendicular to the both of us. If the table were a compass, the Sarah would be north, I would be south, Asami would be east, and Red would be west. Asami took a sip while I asked the question bothering me.

"Red, what happened to you? You're…different." I questioned.

"I am? Oh, don't worry about it, it's nothing." She said, trying to wave it off, but I could tell, something was wrong. She was being overly happy. That only happened when she was trying not to show how depressed she really was.

"Red, what's wrong?" I asked sternly but sincerely.

"I…I messed up." She said, her façade falling away to reveal the despondent spirit inside.

"What happened?" Asami asked before taking another sip of her tea.

"I met a guy." She said solemnly with a sigh, but in a lovelorn way.

Asami, thrilled by this prospect, spat out her tea

"You met a guy! That's great! What's he like? What's his name? How'd you met him?" She interrogated, now thoroughly excited by the turn in the direction of this conversation.

"And now I regret asking the question." I said flatly. In seconds everything had devolved into girl talk.

Fuck. My. Life.

"He got my purse back from a pickpocket." She said, cheering up slightly.

"Ooooh, the heroic type. What did he look like? Was he handsome?" She asked.

"He was this tall guy with that fire nation look, _you know_." She started before throwing a certain glance my way.

I glared back at her, saying with my eyes _don't bring me into this shit_.

"He had spikey hair and a red scarf that matched his amber eyes perfectly." She continued, looking back towards Asami

"Oh, he sounds hot." Asami said as they fully descended into girl talk.

I shot a glance towards Sarah, seeing what she thought of this and was surprised to see a thoughtful look on her face. She was muttering something about the red scarf, as if it reminded her of something, but she wasn't sure. As she thought about it she took a sip of her tea.

Suddenly Red got sad again, her face falling into one of depression and failure. "Yeah, but I forgot to ask where he worked or lived or anything. I have no idea how to find him again. All I got was his name, Mako." She said sadly, feeling the weight of defeat from her own failures.

This name, however, meant something for Sarah, as she spat out her tea all over the table.

The tea _I_ made.

"MAKO?! You met Mako?! The guy with the shark eye brows?!" She exclaimed in surprise, not expecting this turn in the tale.

As she said this Asami decided to take a drink of her tea again, pondering something with a similar look to the one Sarah had earlier.

"Yes! You know him?!" Red asked, her face lighting up with hope at the idea that Sarah might be able to lead her to her lost love.

"Yeah I know him! Korra plays pro-bending with him!" Sarah said, revealing something she neglected to tell us.

This new information triggered a spark of realization in Asami, causing her to once again spit her tea all over the table.

My. Fucking. Tea.

"Wait! Mako of the Fire Ferrets Mako?!" Asami asked excitedly

"Yeah! That's what their team's called!" Sarah answered

"Guys, are you actually going to _drink_ the fucking tea I made, or are you just going to spit it all over the damn table?" I questioned, getting real tired of this.

At this both Asami and Sarah looked at the table and then back at their cups before looking guiltily back at me.

"Right, sorry Susanoo." Sarah sheepishly apologized.

"Yeah, I just got really excited." Asami joined her.

I sighed at the absurd stupidity of the day so far.

Asami and Red both turned excitedly back to Sarah, thrilled at the prospect that Sarah might have an unexpectedly close link to Red's newfound crush.

"Anyway, Sarah! Are you saying Korra's on the Fire Ferrets?!" Asami questioned…enthusiastically.

And by enthusiastically, I mean she was two steps away from foaming at the mouth.

Sarah, disturbed by this but trying not to show it, responded.

"Yeah. She's going under the name Mika, since she'd probably be caught if she used her real name." Sarah explained slowly.

"Why didn't you tell us Korra was on the Fire Ferrets?! They're my favorite team!" Asami asked her, her fangirl side taking her over, again. That seemed to happen a lot around Sarah.

 _Hmmm. I wonder if this will start becoming a thing?_ I pondered to myself

"I didn't think it was important, and it never came up." Sarah answered dismissively

"You didn't think that the fact that you personally knew the new player on the Fire Ferrets, the hottest new Pro-bending team out there, was worth mentioning? That the new water bender on the team, Mika, was actually Korra, the _avatar_ , and that you were indirectly responsible for bringing them together? And that by extension you were indirectly responsible for causing the resurgence in the underdog team of the tournament?"

Whelp, shit.

Now she _is_ foaming at the mouth.

"You didn't think that was important?" Asami asked hysterically, almost beside herself with some weird combination of thrilled happiness and frustrated anger.

It was like she couldn't decide whether she wanted to kiss Sarah for bringing her so close to her favorite Pro-bending team, or to choke her for not telling her sooner.

"….Nope." Sarah said simply, popping the p, after taking a second to actually _drink_ the tea I made her.

This just stunned Asami into silence, she just looked at Sarah like she couldn't believe what she had just said. Like Sarah had just said that technology was stupid, we should live like cavemen, and the only thing stupider than technology was sports, which should be universally banned. Essentially she looked at Sarah like she had just trivialized everything she cared about, but at the same time held the ultimate key to them.

Which was hilarious.

Of course, I didn't laugh outwardly, I just showed a small smile, but on the inside I was cracking up. I mean the irony of it was just too much. Sarah was essentially the ultimate nexus of everything Asami cared about, and Sarah couldn't give less of a shit about said things. The only way it could be better is if she actually disliked those things, and actively tried to destroy them.

Red, however, took this opportunity to ask Sarah _very_ important questions.

"Can you take me to him?" She said in a bashful whisper. She was obviously very shy about this thing, but also determined to meet him.

"Huh?" Sarah asked, not entirely hearing, understanding, or paying attention to what Red said.

"Can you introduce me to Mako?" Red asked again, with a little bit more determination.

"Yeah sure, I can take you over to the bending arena some time." Sarah answered

"Wait, does he already have a girlfriend?!" She asked in a panicked voice, doubts now invading her mind

Sarah sighed in mild annoyance, knowing where this was going before saying in a bored and annoyed tone, "No"

"Does he have a lot of fans? Are they all like Asami? You know, pretty?" She asked, now getting all self-conscious about her scars and stuff.

Sarah sighed again, getting even more annoyed before practically groaning, " _No_ "

"Do you think he would even remember me? I mean he must meet a lot of prettier girls all the time. I doubt he would remember me." Red said, now falling into despair, confident only in failure.

"No!" Sarah yelled in annoyance.

By this point me and Sarah were both sick of this and knew that what she needed was a good kick in the rear, so Sarah yelled, "You know what, I'm just going to drag your blöd arsch to the arena and introduce the two of you whether you want to or not!"

"What?! No! Don't do that! What if he doesn't like me?!" Red cried in defense, wanting nothing more than to save herself the potential humiliation and embarrassment of being rejected by Mako.

"Oh no, you're going, and I'm going to help." I said firmly, not letting her get away from this.

"What? No! I thought you cared about me?!" Red cried, still stubbornly resisting.

"I'm going too! I have to meet them, and I'm not letting you have the love of your life slip through your fingers." Asami declared resolutely, absolutely refusing to let this opportunity slip by.

"Soooo, are we _all_ going on this field trip?" Sarah asked for clarification

"I guess so." I said pointedly as I glared at Red to keep her from leaving. She seemed to respond well to a firm hand type of treatment, otherwise she wouldn't get anything done thanks to her fearful and self-conscious personality.

"Oh No!" Red cried in surprise, as if she suddenly remembered something very important, and very bad.

""Oh no, you're going, whether you like it or not! It's for your own good." Asami said firmly, misunderstanding what Red meant, thinking she was trying to deny the idea of going to the arena.

"No, not that. I just remembered something." Red explained

"What'd you remember?" Sarah asked, finishing her tea.

I noticed that Asami still hadn't finished hers, which made me glare at her and her cup, silently gesturing for her to finish it. At that she took a big gulp in…spite I suppose?

She had a defiant look on her face as her cheeks puffed up from all the liquid in her mouth making her look foolish, as if to say, _Take that!_

I looked back at her mystified, silently saying, _Take what?_

"I remembered that Mom ordered me to _invite_ all of you over for dinner soon. She _really_ wanted to meet you Sarah. She really wanted to see _all_ of you." Red said ominously in a way that let you know that there was no choice in the matter.

We were going to her house, and her mom was going to interrogate us.

Shit.

"What?!" I cried in surprise, anger, and a touch of fear.

Sarah and Asami, who both had just taken the final sip of their teas, now spewed it all over the table from both their mouth and nose. Asami, who had filled her mouth with tea, had it practically explode from her mouth and nose, covering Red in tea since she was in front of her, and getting some on Sarah and me, but mostly getting it all over herself.

My tea was now everywhere, it was all over the table, all over us, on the chairs, on the wall, but _not_ in their fucking stomachs. It dribbled down from their noses and mouths, making them look disgusting and childish, and they were covered in it, darkening their clothes. Well not Sarah's, because she already wore black, but it was still wet.

"Oh for fucks sake!" I cried in frustration throwing my hands in the air, I had worked hard to make that tea, I thought it was the best tea I had ever made, and they had just sprayed it everywhere. Sarah took maybe _one_ sip that got into her stomach, but everything else was everywhere else.

There was a moment of silence as I just sighed in defeat, not even knowing what else to say, and the others just sort of…processed what happened. Then, chaos.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Red laughed uproariously at the rest of us, Sarah and Asami for looking like clumsy idiots who can't be trusted with my amazing tea, and me for getting angry at them for it.

And boy did the girls look stupid. They had a dazed expressions on their faces, as if they didn't really know what to do now, as the tea continued to dribble down their faces from their noses and mouth.

"I…" Asami started to say, shock still all over her face. Red continued to laugh, her face red as she was now having trouble breathing she was laughing so hard.

"Just shut up." I said, just totally done with this situation. "The only one I want to hear talk is Red." I explained sternly. I turned to her and asked pointedly, "Red, what where you saying earlier? About your mom?"

This cut her laughing down quick. I mean it still took a minute for her to settle down, but I could tell there was a sudden drop in her mood. I had reminded her of how much shit we were now in, and that now wasn't the time for laughter. If anything it was the time for panic.

"Right, yeah. Shit." She acknowledge, finally calming down enough to look serious, and then she looked despondent and guilty. She was just all over the board today.

I raised my eyebrow in surprise at what she said, it was rare that Red actually cursed, which probably meant that it was actually _worse_ than I had originally thought. The only time she ever cursed is when it got serious, otherwise she was as clean as a priest.

I don't think it's in her nature to curse, and I don't think her mother encouraged it, but I also think that, considering how her mother was, and how the people she interacted with on a daily basis were, it wasn't surprising that she picked up the habit.

 _Great_ I thought to myself.

"Well, no need to alarm anyone, but mom might be suspicious about you Sarah…and it might be my fault." Red said slowly, her guilty look only getting worse.

"Wait what?" Sarah said, still dazed, but looking a bit more coherent towards the current conversation.

"Yeah… let me explain what happened." Red said, looking like she was about to confess to murder. Which was totally unreasonable.

She was guilty of throwing Sarah to her mother.

That's _way_ worse than something so simple as murder.

* * *

So a several minutes, a few shouting matches, a lot of sighs, groans, tears, and facepalms latter…

"So when are we going to go over to your mom's house?" I asked, taking a sip of my new tea. We had already powered through the worst of the storm. I mean the room was destroyed from what looked a tornado, but now that was over.

"I'm free whenever." Sarah said reluctantly, her voice rough from the all the shouting, yelling, retching, and coughing she had done today in such a short span of time. She then took a sip of the new tea I had made for everyone.

At some point Sarah had head-butted the table just from feeling so screwed. Apparently she didn't know her own strength or something because when she slammed her head into it she _destroyed_ it. The remains of the table where now sitting on the ground after what looked like a sledgehammer smashed into it.

Considering what she did to the thugs we ran into earlier in the week I shouldn't have been too surprised, but it was still unexpected. The act made Asami furious with her, which is understandable considering she just destroyed a beautifully carved wooden table.

"So am I." Asami agreed with Sarah, although she was in pretty much the same boat as Sarah, her voice course, although her hair was a mess from its normally well maintained appearance.

After Sarah destroyed the table, words were said, and feelings were exchanged. They argued and yelled, and I don't know what else because I left. I thought they were acting childish and foolish, so I left to make more tea, knowing that everyone would need it.

"So then we're all free whenever?" Red asked

When I came back everyone was shouting…something at each other. It was impossible to tell what anyone was actually saying, they were all just yelling at each other. I made my presence known, declared they stopped, and made them drink the tea to calm down.

"No, Asami, you forgot about the rally we're going to." I objected, reminding Asami of prior engagements

"Oh! Right! I totally forgot about the Equalist rally!" Asami said in surprise, finally remembering the Equalist Rally I told her about.

I didn't know much about them, but after running into one of their spokesmen I was intrigued. I told the girls about it and Asami wanted to join me and find out more about them. The idea of a group supporting equality for non-benders sounded good, but we both knew that just because a cause sounded just on the outside didn't mean it couldn't be rotten to the core.

Red, however, didn't want to go. She felt that she, as a bender, especially a water bender, wouldn't be liked and would probably be ostracized. She wasn't wrong, so I didn't encourage her to join us.

"Oh! I forgot about that too!" Sarah joined in apparently also reminded of the Equalist rally.

"Wait? You're going to the Equalist rally?" Asami asked skeptically.

"Yeah, Korra and I ran into an Equalist guy with a megaphone and flyers. She nearly punched him in the face, but I managed to talk my way into calming both sides down. Hölle, he even gave me a couple of the flyers and invited me to the rally." Sarah explained.

"Yes, but why?" I asked, not entirely sure why Sarah, a bender, would care about the rights of non-benders.

I had my suspicions but I wanted to be sure. I knew that Red would want to help non-benders because she's something of a bleeding heart for everybody, and her two first and best friends are non-benders. But Sarah was new to this world. She had gotten a glimpse at the issues non-benders had faced, and she had become our friend, but apparently she was planning on finding out more about the rally before any of that.

"Well, I told you a little about how prevalent discrimination, rascism, and oppression were and are things in my world right? " Sarah asked

"Yeah, you mentioned how apparently black people, your people were discriminated against by your country for hundreds of years, as well as how countless other peoples were persecuted and discriminated against throughout history." I replied

"Yeah, well I didn't tell you about how mages were persecuted did I?" Sarah asked, looking apprehensive.

"Wait mages are discriminated _against_?" Asami asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, well in certain regions. You see, where I come from mages are rare, there are _way_ more normal people than mages." Sarah began to explain.

"Yeah, same here." Asami countered.

"No no no, here it's like one out of ten people are a mage, probably more, maybe even one out of four." Sarah began, "But back home it's more like one out of 100,000 people are a mage. Probably even less than that." She explained

"Wait…what?" Kali said, breathless, unable to comprehend such numbers, or more likely what they represented.

"No, that can't be right, can it?" Asami questioned incredulously, trying, and failing, to conceive of a world such as this.

"That explains a lot." I said.

Truth be told I wasn't terribly surprised by this revelation, as it actually explained a lot about Sarah, Mary, and their father.

"What?!" Asami exclaimed in confusion as she snapped her head to me.

"You knew?" Kali questioned incredulously.

"It does?" Sarah asked skeptically as she raised an eyebrow

"It's less that I knew and more that it makes sense. In addition, considering it's a different world that's in the future somehow, it's not terribly surprising that the laws governing bending would be different there." I explained

"Yeah, but how does that explain anything?" Asami inquired, prodding me for my insights.

"Despite being benders the Iron Dragon, Sarah and I'm assuming Mary, rarely used their abilities, only using when they had to, and they didn't broadcast their bending to anyone who would listen. In fact we didn't even think you _were_ a bender until you told us. And finally, and most importantly, you have never asked anyone about whether or not they were a bender, in fact you usually display more surprise for the many acts of bending out in the open you see in the city." I explained

"Yeah, true." Sarah agreed.

"So wait, is that why you call benders mages and non-benders normal people? Because in your world _benders_ are the odd ones out?" Asami suggested.

"Yeah! That's it exactly! I don't understand why people keep calling regular humans this fancy name like their special, they're just normal humans really. Many people consider the mages to be inhuman, freaks of nature, unnatural and ungodly things, and from that opinion comes much of the discrimination." Sarah began to explain.

"Mages are also considered very dangerous, so they can't get jobs most places if the people they know they're a mage. Nobody wants to work with a mage in an office or restaurant, they might throw a fireball, or cause an explosion, or freeze something. For most people magic means trouble, trouble they want nothing to do with." She continued

"The only place where magic is readily accepted in human society is in the military, where you actually want people to throw fireballs. But even there, mages are treated more as powerful and invaluable weapons than actual people." Sarah finished, explaining the plight of the mage in her world.

"So in your world magic is shunned, feared, and controlled?" Asami suggested as a summary.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. There are tons of laws all over the world that vary wildly in how much leeway they give mages, some give mages certain privileges and allowances towards using magic in public, and others treat mages as less than human." Sarah explained solemnly

There was something about the way Sarah was acting while she was talking about this stuff, as if she was hiding something. It didn't seem like she was specifically lying about what she was saying, but instead it was like she was leaving something critical out. Like there was some critical angle to this argument that she was leaving out.

I could only guess at what it may be, what could be so dark or complex as to require her to hide it for now. While everyone else continued to talk I merely scrutinized Sarah's reaction for clues as to what she was hiding.

"That's terrible! I can't imagine a world like that!" Kali exclaimed in shock. As a bender, living in a world where the tables are turned on benders must seem frightening.

"It's not that bad, at least where I live. I mean in many respect America is a backwards country, but it's still a great nation that makes a lot of progress, especially with dad's meddling." Sarah defended, although she said the last part under her breath, I was barely able to hear them.

 _I wonder what she means by that?_ I pondered to myself. I would think further on the matter later.

"So I take it that's why science is so advanced in your world? Your people never relied on bending to carry your society, you always relied on human engineering and ingenuity." Asami mused.

"Yeah, pretty much." Sarah explained

"Hmmm." Asami hummed in acknowledgment as she put on a look of deep thought.

She was likely thinking on the matter just as deeply as I was, just being more obvious about it. Obviously as a non-bender and an engineer the idea of this world of Sarah's sounded great, but at the same time, to know that it was made possible by the discrimination of another people made her check her enthusiasm.

At the same time, however, it seemed like Sarah expressed little or no ill will towards her world for this. Whether that was because it was simply a fact of life she had gotten used to or her country wasn't actually that bad regarding the matter was still unknown.

Finally I felt that it was my time to talk, so with a breath of preparation I said with a new level of clarity, "So you don't like injustice or inequality anywhere do you? That's why you want to help, it doesn't matter if in your world it's the opposite and here they seem like their getting their due punishment, you just don't like the lack of true justice."

"You've been on the other side of the wall of inequality, and you've seen horrible things done by it, and you don't want it to happen here. Isn't that right?" I asked

"You got it. My world's been filled with cruelty and discrimination since the first day, and I have never tolerated it. It doesn't matter if it helps me, hurts me, or doesn't even affect me, if there is the cruelty of man at work then I want to be there to offer the compassion of man. Or at the very least repay it with the wrath of righteous vengeance." Sarah said determinedly.

A dark cloud came over her eyes at the last part and her bronze eyes seemed to…glow for a moment, as if superheated. It seemed like there was once again more to this than she was telling us, but that was fine for now. Everyone has their secrets.

"Well then, it'll be good to see you at the rally." I answered.

It would be good to see another friendly face there, and considering Sarah lived in a world that already hated and feared benders I doubted that she would have any troubles at the Equalist rally.

"Actually, since Sarah's going, Blue how about you come?" Asami suggested.

"Wha-really? Is that safe?" Red asked nervously.

"Well how much do you use magic?" Sarah asked

"Not much really, just when I need to heal people." Red explained

"Then you'll probably be fine, they can't actually prove that you are a mage unless you use magic." Sarah answered, although under her breath she said something I could barely make out, something that sounded like, "'cause you're only humans."

"Besides, if anything comes up we'll be there to protect you." Asami stated, coming to Red's side and putting an arm around her shoulder in a show of support.

"Yeah, I mean me and Susanoo already fought of an army of mages for you, what's an angry mob?" Sarah boasted as she also came up to Red's side in support.

Before this got too mushy I decided to bring us back to another major problem by loudly clearing my throat.

"You do realize that we still have to plan around going to Red's place?" I posited

I was met with a chorus of "Oh"s and "right"s as they all got back on topic.

"I suggest that we do it in three weeks, the rally is in two weeks and I would like to get the rally done with before we see your mother." I suggested

"Wait, no that doesn't work for me." Sarah dissented

I sighed at just how this day just refused to end.

"what is it?" I asked tiredly

"Well, you see, Korra has a game in three weeks and I promised I'd go see it." Sarah explained

"OH! Right! The Fire Ferrets have a game that day!" Asami excitedly jumped in.

"Oh! And Mako will be there!" Red emphatically agreed.

"Oh for fuck's sake." I said dejectedly.

This was going to take while.

And it did.

About two hours later we finally said our goodbyes and left Asami's house.

Sarah had agreed to take Asami and Red to meet the Fire Ferrets in a week and a half, apparently right now the team was undergoing some rough training for some reason and they were all tired and moody.

We had also agreed to go over to Red's house for interrogation, I mean dinner, with her mom before the next Fire Ferret game.

 _Things have certainly gotten very interesting this week_. I thought to myself as I walked Red home.

 _And I have a feeling they'll get even more hectic soon._

* * *

 _A/n: Yay, the first chap of "Stormfront" is out._

 _and as promised..._

 _The Beginnings of an Angsty Romance!_

 _I promised It'd happen by chap 12, but chap 12 turned into chap 13, so there._

 _On that same note, this is what you can expect, to some degree, for my approach to romance._

 _The sappier and fluffier it is_

 _the more it will be abused for shits and giggles_

 _Not to say it won't ever be serious, it's just that I think it's funnier this way._

 _I love making fun of unnecessarily sappy or angsty romances where the characters fall in love at first sight._

 _I feel like it's so bullshit it has to be made fun of._

 _On another note, this chap sets up the rest of "Stormfront", while attempting to be funny and informative._

 _Also, this used to be two chapters simply because of length, but thanks to several things, including me wanting to keep all the chap numbers right, I put them together._

 _I also did it because there wasn't really a good reason to split the chapter up other then length, and that isn't a good enough reason for me._

 _Also we finally got to take a tiny peak into Mary's head, Yay!_

 _And it is fucking dark!_

 _Yay!_

 _Mary's my favorite character,_

 _so good,_

 _so evil._

 _Oh, and if your wondering about the other language Sarah was speaking, it's german._

 _And there's a reason it's there._

 _If you picked out some of the names that popped up earlier you might have figured a bit of it out._

 _Why german though?_

 _Because there is no way in hell that anyone from the avatar world has any idea what the fuck german is._

 _Also cause german's awesome._

 _Plus plot reasons._

 _Awesome plot reasons._

 _Sorry there hasn't been much action lately, but I promise, "Landfall" will make it all up to you._

 _"Landfall's" Gonna be the shit._

 _Anyway, that's about it._

 _War out_


	14. Scene 14: The Calm Before the Storm

Scene 14, Chap 14

The Calm Before the Storm

 **Asami pov**

I was _so_ excited.

Today was the day.

Today was the day that Sarah took us all to meet the Fire Ferrets in person.

I was absolutely thrilled. I couldn't wait to meet them, even now as I drove us over to the arena I could scarcely believe it was happening. I could still hardly believe that the dark girl sitting in the back of the car really existed.

She was…unique.

I've never met another girl anything like her.

She's brash, aggressive, violent, but at the same time kind and compassionate. She always did things with her heart, always doing whatever she thought was right and damned the consequences. Case in point, the night we met her.

She just charged at a mob of gangsters without a second thought to save a girl she didn't even know.

She also had a weird way of worming her way into our hearts. We've only known her for a few weeks and she already feels like one of our closest friends.

After the horrors that each of us suffered from the Night of the Blood Moon the three of us grew a friendship closer than anything else we've ever formed. Sure, we've had other friends afterwards, but there's always been a…gulf between us and them.

They've been our friends, but not exactly…trustworthy.

It's like, Susanoo, Blue, and I have become closer than friends, we've become family, and no one else we've met since then has come close.

Well…no one till Sarah, that is.

I don't really know why, or how, but unlike anyone else she's somehow managed to…click with our little group.

She's not family, not yet, but she's gotten closer than anyone else, other than actual family, of course.

Then again, it's hard not see why. She comes from a powerful and prominent family, like the three of us, but unlike everyone else we've associated with such families she doesn't have a lick of arrogance.

Sarah's explained to us herself that she's from a powerful family. Her dad is a wealthy industrialist when he's not a cryptic leader of his own personal army, one that he uses to keep the world from tearing itself apart. That's to be expected, however, considering what we all know regarding the legends of the Iron Dragon from our world.

What wasn't expected, however, was the fact that her mother is a powerful politician and noble woman. Apparently before her father became a war hero, he was something of a nobody, while her mother was from a rich and powerful family. Sarah's never really gone in depth regarding what her mother is in her country's government, but she has implied that her mother carries a lot of power.

Despite that, however, Sarah doesn't show any of the traits of coming from a noble family.

Ever.

I suppose it could be due to cultural differences, she _is_ from an entirely different world, and from what we've heard her father isn't much different from her.

That being said, we were never able to actually get answers. That's not to say she dodged our questions or anything, oh on. It's just…

She's shit at explaining things.

Seriously.

I mean, she would try.

She would try oh so very hard, but nevertheless she would usually end up confusing us more than anything else. First she would explain it one way, and we would think we understood what she was talking about. But then she would reference the same thing later on in a contradictory way. When we would question her about it she would give us a puzzled look before realizing she explained had explained it poorly the whole time.

Regardless it was kind of…cute…to see her try and explain something to us, only to see her crestfallen expression when she realized that we didn't get it.

She seriously did fit in our group surprisingly well.

For Susanoo, he got someone he could finally relate to.

Even though Susanoo may have seen us as sisters, the fact was, we didn't really share too many interests. I mean, I did have an interest in self defense and martial arts, the fact was, compared to Susanoo, I was a rookie that thought of it as a simple hobby.

Susanoo…he found as a kind of way of life.

He was a warrior through and through, it was in his very blood. His parents, his grandparents, even his great-grandparents were all renown warriors known for their skill and experts in their field. He head the head of a grizzled military tactician, and the body of a hardened warrior.

Blue and I both knew that he had killed before, and had little issue doing it again if he had to, but he wasn't a heartless killer. He was a warrior who fought to protect those he cared about, namely, us.

That's why he was…particularly ruthless the night we met Sarah, because those bastards had dared touch Blue.

So, in Sarah, he found a kindred spirit. Sarah, like him, was a warrior at heart. While she might not have been as…graceful…as him, she was still incredibly skilled and powerful. Not only that, but despite being a powerful bender, she rarely used her powers. She found it to be to…impersonal, at least, as she described it.

Not to mention Sarah was a tomboy through and through.

Blue and I both knew he didn't exactly appreciate "girl talks". Fortunately for him, neither did Sarah.

She never talked about boys, clothes, her looks, nothing. The one time I tried to talk to her about make-up she just gave me a quizzical look, as if had no idea what I was talking about.

And to my horror, she didn't.

And once Blue and I explained it to her, she recoiled in horror. She acted like we were planning on painting her face with mud.

Actually…

I think she would have liked that better.

So yeah, in effect Susanoo got the "brother" he never had.

Me?

I got someone who finally got some of my bigger interests.

Well….

Kinda.

Sarah was basically the nexus of everything I loved, but mostly on accident or through no fault of her own. Case in point:

One, her first friend here was Korra, who was secretly the new water bender for my favorite pro-bending team, the Fire Ferrets. Not only that, but apparently Sarah had introduced Korra to them personally.

On accident.

Two, Sarah was the daughter of one of my heroes, the only one I knew to still be alive. Not only that, from what we were able to gather from her, her father was even more interesting than I thought, being in control of an advanced engineering company.

Not that she could control who her parents were.

And finally, Sarah was from a highly advanced world, at least, compared to ours. Despite her relative passive attitude towards technology, she still had far more knowledge regarding certain technologies than I did. Not to mention she had a working a piece of technology that was so advanced it resembled magic by our standards.

So yeah, she had herself hip deep in almost everything I, as she called it, "fangirled over".

At the same time…

She didn't share my same enthusiasm for any of it.

Instead she tended to tease me about my hobbies. Not hurtfully or anything, it was all in good fun, but it was…ironic that someone so well connected to all my points of interest cared so little about it.

Nevertheless, she tried her best to be a good friend and help me when she could. She said just because she didn't particularly care about them too much, didn't mean she should discourage or hinder me from my interests in them.

Finally, there was Blue.

Blue was the most shy among all of us. She only had one or two friends outside Susanoo and I, even they were more like acquaintances than anything else. So she never had any _real_ friends outside our little trio. She never had anyone outside her family she could trust with her darkest secret.

Every time she tried it always ended up blowing up in her face. The second she revealed she was a blood bender they turned on her. Some even tried to killer on the spot.

Susanoo made sure it was the last thing she ever did.

Because of that Blue's grown closed off from gaining any other _true_ friends. It's stunted her growth as a person, her inability to make any other serious connections.

Sure, she knew lots of people that worked with her mom at the police station, but none of them knew Blue's secret. As much as her mother trusted many of the, she just couldn't take that kind of risk with her daughter.

This, combined with her scared appearance, lack of any known blood relations, and unusual eyes made her very self-conscious about herself. She rarely held enough pride and drive to stand up for herself when she needed to, and it think that she was always destined for failure when it came time to be more…social.

In fact, one of the few things she wasn't self-conscious about, was he skills as a medic.

When it came to medicine and healing she was incredibly confident and sure of her skill, though not arrogant about them. If anyone doubted her then she would usually shove it in their face, one way or another.

Part of this had to do with her being a prodigy with water bending and a photographic memory, but it had more to do with her will to save people. From the time she was a child she did everything she could to help and heal. Whenever it came to fix someone up she always got serious and commanding.

If you go in her way, then she would usually brake your limbs and put you back together later.

Usually as painfully as possible.

But regardless of her incredible talent and passion for the healing arts, outside of that she was… something of a hopeless mess of depression, sadness, and crippling lack of self-esteem or faith in the spirts ability to _not_ fuck her over.

Then again, considering her life, who can blame her?

It's not like the spirits ever really did her any favors.

So, for Blue Sarah was perhaps the most important of all.

If there was one thing that Sarah didn't lack, it was passion for everything she truly cared about, and that included her friends.

She befriended Blue with incredible ease and proved herself worthy of her trust after showing that she not only didn't care that she could blood bend, but she came from a place where blood bending was a valued and rare skill. By befriending Blue in such a way she helped prove to her that she wasn't worthless, or a demon, or anything like that. She knew we didn't think like that, but she had known us for 12 years, and we were practically siblings. What she needed was the opinion of unbiased third party, which she got in Sarah.

So, once Sarah realized Blue's self-esteem problems she dived headlong into solving. She encouraged at prodded Blue with a passion that neither Susanoo nor I could hope to manage. At every chance Sarah encouraged her to have faith in herself, often times in her own special way.

Sometimes this meant that she got…aggressive… with her. By that I mean she wouldn't baby Blue like I tended to whenever she got down.

While I would come at her with a soft voice and soothing tones, Sarah would practically kick her out of her spiral of depressing sadness. She never let Blue even _begin_ to think that she was simply taking pity on her.

Sarah would encourage Blue to prove herself to her by antagonizing her, or at least trying to. She never crossed the line into bullying or anything, but she was certainly more forceful and energetic than we ever were.

Kind of like she was doing right now.

"Are you sure he still remembers me? I mean, he probably sees dozens of people much prettier than me every day." Blue says with bleary eyes on the verge of tears.

She was absolutely terrified right now. She was absolutely sure that Mako either didn't remember her, or didn't want to see her again.

"Kali, I've told you this a thousand times. He's been pining for you _all verdammt week_." Sarah explained tiredly, sick of Blue's defeatist personality getting in the way of her life. It was kind of odd how Sarah had suddenly started cursing in another language, one she called "German".

We were standing outside of the doors of the pro-bending arena, where Sarah said that Fire Ferrets should be training. Blue refused to go in because she was afraid of what would happen if she did go inside.

While Sarah _did_ help prove that the spirits didn't want to completely fuck over Blue's life, it still wasn't enough to just wipe away practically 12 years of misery and pain.

"I think I'll just wait in the car. You guys go ahead of me. I wouldn't want to ruin your time with the Fire Ferrets, Asami." Blue tried to insist, not wanting to get in the way of our happiness, but convinced she would only bring misery.

We all looked at her with varying emotions.

Susanoo's held pity, annoyance, and resignation. He knew that Blue would be adamant about this. Well, as adamant as someone with no self-esteem in social situations could be. He was annoyed about it, but he was also used to it so he wasn't too surprised.

I was sad but understanding. I knew it was pretty much pointless to continue at this point. Blue was all but sure that she would either ruin any fun the rest of us would have with the team, or be so severely rejected by them that she would feel like killing herself. Unfortunately it's happened before.

Sarah on the other hand…

Well…

She wasn't having that shit.

While the rest of us had expressions of sadness, pity, and resignation, Sarah only had one of _"Oh_ _Hell_ _NO!"_ as she scowled at her.

* * *

"Sarah! Sarah put me down!" Blue cried out, pleading for Sarah to allow her to escape.

Sarah, on the other hand, was whistling a tune as if she didn't hear a damn thing she said.

After having enough of Blue's "whining", as she put it, Sarah decided the best way to get her to get over this was to literally drag her, kicking and screaming, to the Fire Ferrets.

Well…I suppose in this case it was less "dragging" and more "carrying".

"Asami, Susanoo, HELP!" Blue cried out to us from her perch over Sarah's shoulder.

The two of us just continued to stare at the strange sight mutely, stunned that Sarah would be so bold as to just toss Blue over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and just carry to the team. We simply prayed that we didn't run into anyone else on the way there.

That would be…difficult to explain.

Finally we walked up to the door that lead to the training room and braced ourselves. Sarah got to the door first, pausing for but a second to gather herself.

Suddenly she kicked the door in with her steel boots, hitting them so hard they flew off their hinges and into the room, surely startling anyone inside.

"Hey Mako! I got a _surprise_ for you…" She started, upbeat, happy, and suggestive, but then she dragged out the last part as excitement turned to stunned surprise and disappointment.

The rest of us weren't yet in the room so we couldn't yet see what was wrong, but based on the tone things weren't going to be going according to plan. Blue and I looked at each other in worry before rushing past Susanoo into the room.

And we were met with emptiness.

The room was devoid of people, the Fire Ferrets weren't here.

"What?" Blue and I said in unison breathlessly from her perch on Sarah's shoulder, we couldn't believe we had gone through all that trouble only to find out that they weren't here.

"Huh." Susanoo said simply. He probably thought that this whole thing was amusing if anything.

Bastard

"That's…odd?" Sarah said, confused. She seemed confused as to why there was no one here.

"I thought you said they'd be here?" I asked Sarah, just a little bit whiney.

"They should be, right now they should have been training since this morning. I don't know why they're not here." She said, very perplexed as to what was going on.

"Then where could they be?" I asked.

* * *

 **Mako pov**

 **Earlier**

"Great, so we need 30,000 yuans to enter the tournament." I said summarizing our condition

"Yup." Bolin agreed despondently.

Earlier the arena manager had come in to give us our winnings from our last couple games and told us that if we wanted to get in the tournament then we would have to throw 30,000 yuans into the pot, and when I say "gave us our winnings" I mean he told that we already spent all our winning's on Korra's new equipment and groceries.

"Korra, you wouldn't happen to have 30,000 yuans around would you?" Bolin asked, half joking.

"Sorry guys, this is the only job I've ever had. I have nothing. Sarah and Mary just let me stay with them."

The way she said that so casually, so easily, let me know she didn't really ever have _nothing_ , she just never had any excess. In truth she probably never wanted anything, she was given what she needed and nothing else. But nothing else isn't _nothing_.

Nothing is when you don't have a house, you don't have food, and you don't even have your parents. All you have is your brother and yourself. That's how life on the street was for me and Bolin as kids. After our parents died on the Night of the Blood Moon we had to wander the streets looking for food and shelter, just struggling to stay alive.

The fact that Korra was able to say that she had nothing so _easily_ when it was so far from the truth infuriated me, but my self-control kicked in and stopped me from doing something stupid. Despite that I was still angry enough to hiss out, "Then I wouldn't say you have nothing"

Korra realized her mistake and looked guiltily at me. "Oh, Mako I'm sorry I didn't mean…" She apologized, but she didn't really know what to say so she just trailed off.

"I might be able to get the money to you." An ominous voice said coming from behind us. It sounded like it was being whispered in each of our ears, but given where we were all standing, that was impossible.

"Oh Spirits!" Bolin exclaimed in surprise, jumping into Korra's also very startled arms

"Ah!" Korra shouted in alarm as Bolin fell into her waiting arms. There they just hugged each other for a moment in fear.

I made surprised sound that was somewhere between a shout and a grunt. While the voice surprised me as well I didn't let myself get as shaken as the other two. I turned around in an instant and tried to see where the voice came from.

Then, out from the shadows strutted our new trainer.

"Mary" I said, getting ahold of myself.

Korra and Bolin, now knowing who it was, untangled themselves and put themselves back together.

Mary, our new trainer, was known for her stealthy ways. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and as she put it, "Until you children get better it won't be the last." She was a cold, ruthless, and brutally efficient trainer. She wasted no time in training us, and by that I mean she trained us in specific, measured amounts.

That's not to say she wasn't flexible, it's just that she would always adjust how she trained us to perfectly match up with what we needed to get better, no more and no less. This meant that no matter how much better we got, practice was always as brutal on us as before, just in different ways or scaled to match up with our new skills.

In that way I kind of liked her, she certainly didn't coddle us, but everything she did she did with a purpose, so she wasn't just sadistic. Sure, she definitely had some sadistic qualities, but she never let her sadism override her reasoning. For her, her sadism was just icing on the cake.

It was a lot better than other trainers who would train you based on their previous experience, but if you didn't fit the image they had of you then they would make you fit. Like trying to fit a circle in a square hole they would force their training regimen on you, thinking that they obviously knew best and any problems were your fault.

No, Mary really adapted the training to be the most effective based on what you needed, and the result was a vast improvement. Yeah, sure Mary beat the ever loving crap out of us in training, but it was _far_ worse than anything we ever faced in the ring. She did everything she could to help us succeed.

In that way I didn't like Mary. She did everything she could to help us succeed. Korra and Bolin appreciated her for it, but I saw underneath it. She wasn't helping us for altruistic purposes. She had some hidden motive, and it was something she kept well hidden. I figured that she wanted the money from winning the tournament, but I could also tell that there was something more than that at work.

That was the thing about Mary, she had lots of secrets, but I had no idea what they were. She was a mystery, never really telling us anything. Even if we asked her about something specifically she would deflect it with an answer that wasn't really an answer, and that's _if_ she answered, sometime she would just ignore us like we weren't even there.

I asked Korra about her and she said that she didn't really know Mary or her sister for that long, but she was indebted to them so she trusted them. I got the feeling that Korra knew more than she was telling us, but not necessarily the whole story. Besides, I didn't get the dark, soul devouring feeling from her that I got from Mary.

Everything about her was strange. Her looks, her clothes, her speech. The way she looked and acted just screamed high-society, and she would often be demeaning towards us, but as I said before she never did anything without cause. She never insulted us just because she thought we were "street urchin" as she called us, but instead she had some hidden motive. I can't really guess what that motive was though.

Then again, maybe I'm just being paranoid. Bolin and Korra don't seem to think she's suspicious or shady. Kind of arrogant, aloof, cold, and ruthless sure, but not suspicious. But then Bolin's never really been the best judge of character, and I can't speak for Korra.

"At least one of you is at least somewhat competent." Mary criticized as she looked at me. I guessed that meant she was talking about me, considering the others practically ran for the hills.

Bolin and Korra, taking offense to this, both tried to save face.

"Pft, I wasn't scarred, I just…sneezed." Bolin defended as he puffed out his chest trying to look more manly.

"Yeah, and his sneeze just surprised me, and then I went to catch him when he tripped." Korra said, also trying to defend herself by spinning a story.

A bad story.

"Uh…Yeah, because I sneezed so hard I tripped…yeah." Bolin said, trying to continue the story.

All Mary and I could do was look at them trying and failing to save their pride and raise our eyebrows in confusion.

I turned to Mary to bring up what she was talking about earlier.

"You said to could get us the money?" I asked cautious yet hopeful.

"Most of it, yes." She answered simply.

"How much is most of it?" I asked, wanting a clear and specific answer.

"Enough that the rest of you can cover the rest if you work hard enough." She answered, giving me more questions than answers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked harshly, not liking her tone.

"Simple. I will wait to give you the money until the day you need to turn it in. If I find that you haven't worked hard enough to gather as much funding as you can then I won't lend you my support." She answered.

"What?! Why?!" I cried out angrily, I didn't like how she was toying with us.

"If I just give you all the money right now, or pay you without actually trying then what kind of teacher would I be? Rest assured I will give you all the funding you need, you _all_ just need to work for it." She said as she pointed to each and every one of us, indicating that we would all have to pull our own weight in this.

"But what if we can't get enough money?" Bolin asked, worried about how he and Korra were going to get money outside of Pro-bending.

I had my job at the factory, and I'm sure I could come up with some other work if I looked around hard enough, but Bolin and Korra were a bit…young. Not to mention they had a tendency to be…unreliable in certain aspects. Namely the aspect that businesses look for in their workers. Aspects like being on time every day, being focused and committed to the job, and having applicable skill. In short their prospects weren't great.

"You don't need to gather a large sum of money, all you need to do is prove to me that you want this by trying as hard as you can to get what you can. If all you get is 100 yuans from working for 12 days straight as a waiter or something then that's fine, you did what you could." She explained.

With this information I breathed a sigh of relief. I was sure that Korra and Bolin would be able to _some_ job, I just didn't think it would pay enough to sate Mary, but now she was saying that the amount wasn't what mattered, but the effort.

"Oh, that's a relief. I guess." Korra said, also visibly relaxing.

"Yeah, but now we gotta find out what to do to get that money." Bolin said, going into a pondering look. Then he looked at Pabu, our mascot of a Fire Ferret. "Well I've been teaching Pabu tricks we could do street shows of him…"

"No." Mary cut him off sharply.

There wasn't much force in the way she said it, but the way she said it made it pierce through any hope of using that plan Bolin had, leaving him with nothing but crushed dreams.

"How are you going to be getting this money?" I asked, not wanting to be indebted to a gang or something.

"I have my methods." She replied simply, dodging the question.

"It's nothing illegal is it? Nothing with the triads?" I asked, pushing harder.

At this the corners of her lips twisted upwards ever so slightly.

"Oh, rest assured, _none_ of you will be going to jail for what I'm about to do." She answered, not actually answering my question.

I don't even know why I bothered, all I got when I asked her questions like that was even _more_ questions, and very few answers.

"Wha-what does that mean?" Bolin asked, somewhat shaken by the way she said that.

Mary didn't respond, instead she turned around and walked back into the dark shadow she came from. With each step now landing with and audible **clack** as her metal boots hid the hard stone floor.

"Just remember to get that money in time." Was all she said as she disappeared into the shadows, and when she did her footsteps somehow disappeared with her.

And just like that she was gone. Like a ghost.

We all just looked at each other, not really knowing what to do next.

"Oh, and here's a hint, I doubt you'd get very far without it. _Blood_ money is still _money_." She said ominously, her voice somehow coming from the dark shadows all around us, instead of one specific source.

Left with those chilling words we sat there for a second, processing what to do.

"So, what now?" Korra asked

* * *

 **Later**

"Great, so now Bolin's been captured by Equalists." I said despondently. I had no idea where to go from here.

"I'm so sorry Mako, I did everything I could. But it wasn't good enough. They did something to my bending, they took it away somehow." Korra apologized.

Korra had planned to meet up with Bolin here. He had told her that he found a job that would work great for both of them, but when she showed up he and bunch of gang members were being taken by Equalists. The only reason they didn't take her too was because her Polar-bear dog scarred them off.

But now Bolin was in the hands of those _terrorists_ , and I had no idea where he was or what to do.

"Chi blocking, it's something I heard Equalists could do. It makes you numb and unable to bend for a bit by blocking your chi points." I answered robotically. I breathed out a sigh of defeat and said, "I can't believe they took him. Why would they take Bolin? He's harmless!", growing more and more angry the more I thought about it.

"We need to find him! Do you know where they went?" I said determinedly as I looked at Korra.

"I'm sorry I don't… Wait…actually…" She said dejectedly at first, before something came to mind. Something that brought…hope to her eyes. She thought about it a bit, staring off into the distance before turning back to me. This time she had fire in her eyes. Fire, and a plan.

"Actually I think I know exactly where he'll be." She said passionately.

"Where." I said sharply, probably more rudely than I should have, but I didn't have the patience to mess around with this right now.

"We'll have to make a stop back at my house first." She said, turning towards Naga.

"Just tell me what we're doing!" I said, losing my patience. Bolin didn't have time for these games!

"We're going to an Equalist Rally, we're going to the Revelation." She said cryptically before jumping on Naga's back and offering me a hand, "Coming?"

* * *

 _A/n: Sorry about this being out late._

 _I'm going to try my damndest to get the rest of "Stormfront" out today, but it'l probably be out later today._

 _The next chap won't require too many changes, but "Landfall" probably will_

 _Oh, and there's a reason that Sarah's suddenly started cursing in German, but it will be explained later._

 _That's it for now._

 _War out._


	15. Scene 15: Rising Winds

Scene 15, Chap 15

Rising Winds

 **Sarah pov**

So after the debacle earlier where the Fire Ferrets weren't where I thought they would be I tried to track them down, but I couldn't find them. In the end we just gave up and decided to go straight to the rally. Susanoo said we would each need to bring a flyer, apparently they doubled as a kind of invitation as well as a map.

So we swung by all of our houses to pick up the flyers. We went to mine last and when we did I noticed that a couple flyers were missing, which was odd. I just dismissed it as unimportant though and just hopped in the car with the others. Asami got us to the rally in minutes.

We arrived in front of a big abandoned factory, well formally abandoned. Now it was filling up with people. It was a dark and cloudy night. The Moon was nowhere in sight. As we headed inside the rain started to pound the pavement softly so we hurried inside to cover.

Earlier Susanoo warned us that we had to not draw attention to ourselves, he mostly directed that comment to me and Kali. Apparently in this world mages tend to dress in a color-coded fashion. Others tended to dress in more muted colors.

I thought it was the stupidest fucking thing I'd ever heard.

Back in my world there was no such distinction. I mean, a few did that but not nearly enough to have it reliably mean anything.

Case in point…

Me.

Despite being a metal mage I was wearing the colors I wanted to, namely a black jacket, a dark red shirt underneath, gray pants, and a dark blue scarf around my neck.

As far as I knew that wasn't a particularly "metal" outfit, so I figured it was good. And if it wasn't I would break anyone who had a problem with it.

The real problem was Kali. As someone who lived in this world and was part of this culture she adhered to this trend. Granted she usually wore blue _and_ red, but she still wore a lot of blue, which apparently screamed water mage. So at Asami's house we fitted her with a warm red, brown, and gray dress. Something that didn't scream water mage.

Allegedly

I didn't really see it but this isn't my world.

The others were wearing what they usually wore, and they were actually normal people, so they didn't have to hide anything.

So we walked up to the entrance and were greeted by the…bouncer? I guess? He looked like a bouncer. Maybe he was more of a doorman.

"This is a private event. Nobody gets in without an invitation." He said, giving us a careful once over.

"Sure." Asami said, handing him four flyers, which doubled as invitations.

He looked at them carefully, scrutinizing them any flaws. He seemed satisfied, and with a nod of his head he looked back up at us and said. "Alright, welcome brothers and sisters."

As we passed into it he stopped me from entering and said, "Not so fast. You look like a water bender." He said suspiciously. Maybe it was the blue scarf? Whatever it was he made a mistake confusing me for a water mage.

"I LOOK LIKE WHAT?!" I screamed in outrage, grabbing the hand that he had used to stop me.

I gripped it tightly, strong enough to cut off the circulation of his blood. If I clamped down on it any harder I would be breaking his wrist. My face contorted into pure fury. I was about to cripple this guy for his mistake.

Apparently this was _not_ the response he had been expecting. He feel to his knees in agony as I crushed his wrist. His face twisted in fear and pain. He stared fearfully at me, but before he could say anything else to me I completely destroyed him verbally to compliment my physical abuse.

You know, good old insult to injury.

"Say it again you cunt-faced bastard! I'll stick my arm up you anus and rip your dirty fucking tongue out from your dirty fucking ass!"

At this point he was thoroughly terrified, he looked like he was about to cry in fear.

"I'm sorry, whatever I did I'm sorry." He begged, trying to save himself, but I was _way_ too angry to care.

I clamped down on his arm harder, creating an audible crack, breaking it in half.

"AH!" he screamed out in pain

"Fuck you, you can go fuck yourself sideways with a fucking shovel down your pisshole!" I cursed again.

At this point I wasn't even sure I was still speaking English. I threw his arm down and walked back to the rest of the group, leaving him crumpled on the ground in pain.

"Uh, Sarah, what was that?" Asami asked with a smile

"He just got me a little angry, that's all." I said, still slightly annoyed at the bouncer

"No, I mean what were you saying?" She asked again

"Huh?" I asked not understanding what she meant

"You were just kind of shouting gibberish at him." She explained

At this I looked at everyone else to see if this was true and was surprised to see a small smile on Susanoo's face. He almost never smiled. And Kali was even chuckling

"Oh. Whoops." I said sheepishly.

I probably just accidently slipped into Gaelic in rage. Again.

"Did you need to brake his wrist?" Asami asked with a wry smile, like she thought it was funnier than concerning

"Yeah, don't you think you might have overreacted _just_ a little bit?" Kali agreed with a grin

"Eh, he'll live." I dismissed.

At this Susanoo even chuckled.

He fucking chuckled

"Never change Sarah. Never change." He said, smiling and walking into the crowd with us.

I looked around the room to get a sense of our surroundings, to try and find entrances, exits, the number of guards, on and so forth. I caught a glimpse of Susanoo doing the same. What I observed was that we were in a cold, dark, and densely packed factory.

For most people the darkness might be a problem, but I never minded it. I took notice of the amount of guards and it worried me. There was too many for this to just be a simple announcement, at least that's what _I_ thought, maybe things were different here.

I also noticed a door to what my senses were telling me was likely some kind of pump room filled with pipes. It was likely some kind of steam directing room, design to direct steam to different areas.

The most interesting thing my senses told me was that there was a large platform that was underneath the stage. It felt like there was an assembly that would allow the platform to rise up through a trapdoor on the stage. I figured that this likely going to be a very theatrical and dramatic performance, whatever it was.

 _Fan-fucking-tastic. I always enjoy a good show_. I thought to myself

I looked to Susanoo and asked, "There seem to be a lot of guards here don't you think?"

"Yeah, they seem to be either expecting a fight, or…" He said, trailing off.

"Or?" I asked

"Or this is a show of strength and power." He said darkly.

"Sooo…a dick measuring contest, fucking great." I commented, to which he nodded in agreement.

"I have a bad feeling about this." I muttered back

"I can't believe all these people hate bending." Kali said in concerned awe. She was understandably worried about the implications of this.

"I can, after the Night of the Blood Moon tensions between benders and non-benders have grown fiercely. It's not surprising that this many people would show this much interest in a group interested in providing equality." Asami explained.

"I doubt their interested in providing equality." I said darkly.

"What do you mean?" Kali asked, confused.

"Yeah, that's why their called the Equalists, because they want equality between benders and non-benders. Right now non-benders are oppressed by the benders but the Equalists are trying to put us on equal ground with them." Asami explained.

 _That's fucking adorable_ I thought as I sighed.

"And that's the problem." Susanoo said. _He_ understood the problem, which isn't too surprising given how skeptical and insightful he can be.

"How's that the problem?" Asami asked harshly, not understanding how we could be so critical of the Equalists despite knowing nothing about them.

But, given what I was sensing they were doing underneath the stage, I feared that this rally was really a…

"This is a lynch mob." I said darkly.

"What's a lynch…" Asami started to ask before being interrupted by the rally

Suddenly the speakers in the room burst into life as a voice floods the room. The announcer comes on and says, "Please welcome your hero, your savior…Amon!

Lights from the platform blasted on, bathing the stage in light. Machines whirred to life as the machinery beneath the stage brought the platform up through the trapdoor and out for all to see. Standing on the platform were several Equalists, all in a dark green uniform and all wearing glowing green goggles.

All except for one. He stood apart from the rest, wearing a gray and dark red uniform and a white mask with a yin-yang symbol on the forehead.

Amon.

As he appeared on the stage the crowd went ballistic. The room was filled with the cheers of the crowd.

Over the sounds of the crowd, though, I was able to hear the sound of rain hammering into the roof. It was an ominous staccato rhythm of the sky, and it didn't do anything to make my bad feeling any better.

I did _not_ like where this was going.

Amon slowly and calmly walks to the microphone on stage. He grabs the mic and waits for the roar of the crowd to die down. What started as an incredibly load ovation for the Equalist leader slowly falls back down into utter silence.

And silence is what remains for five seconds.

Then his sound floods the room, filling our ears with his voice.

"Like many of you my quest for equality began 12 years ago, on the Night of the Blood Moon." He begins, his baritone voice carrying through the air in an entrancing cadence.

It was hypnotizing, the way he spoke. It just made you want to listen to what he had to say. It wasn't exactly frightening, but it was commanding. It was like the voice of your father, you didn't necessarily fear it, but you respected it.

"That night the water benders of the Red Monsoons killed countless numbers of people, especially non-benders. And what did the authorities do about it?" He asked, giving a dramatic pause.

The silence wasn't one of confusion, it was one of anger. Everyone knew what he was about to say next, and nobody liked it. He had reminded them of the worst night in Republic City, and he was reminding them of the aftermath.

" _NOTHING_ _ **.**_ " He whispered.

It wasn't a normal whisper. It wasn't a whisper because it was soft and quiet, it was a whisper because it snuffed everything else. It wasn't loud, because it didn't need to be, the sound of that word cut through everything else and went straight to your mind. Even if you didn't understand the word he said you would understand the intent he sent across with his voice.

"They did _NOTHING_!" He roared now.

Again, it wasn't a normal roar, but just his voice in the same cadence as always, the same rusty baritone, but now it was louder. It silenced not only the world around you, but your own _thoughts_. The way he said it made that the only thing in your mind. It rumbled through your head and echoed through the factory. In that one sentence was enough anger to make you feel angry _for_ him.

He paused for a moment, recomposing himself and letting the air clear.

"I wanted to be a doctor." He began, switching gears.

"I, a non-bender, wanted to be a doctor." He explained

"I wanted to help people, even though I was a non-bender I wanted to do what I could to help people and save lives." He elaborated, pulling us into his life as he explained his story.

"As a non-bender I was forced to deal with the enormous setback that came with not being a water bender. In this city, in our culture, if you are not a water bender then you are already have an enormous setback as a healer.

Water benders can heal injuries in seconds with just a puddle of water. Things like cuts and bruises simply disappear with water healing. Compared to that how can anyone else hope to compete?" He asked rhetorically, giving another pause.

"But isn't that how it is with all things in this world? If you cannot bend then you automatically have a disadvantage to those who do. It doesn't matter what you want to do, in every area someone who cannot bend is seen as automatically inferior to those who can.

I have even had benders apologize to me for not being a bender, because to them it is a _weakness_ , a _fault_ , an _error_." He said, his voice growing more bitter and intense as filled our minds.

Then he took a pause as he got back on track.

"Nevertheless I persevered and did what I could to be the best healer I could be. In those days it didn't matter if everyone thought that water benders were better, I just wanted to _help people_." He said passionately, expressing how noble he had been.

 _Had_ been.

"One day I met someone in the streets, a woman in need. She didn't care that I wasn't a water bender, she just cared that I was someone who wanted to help others. Someone who helped _her_. I eventually married this woman and she was the love of my life. Soon we had a child, a beautiful sweet and innocent child.

We were a happy non-bender family living in the city, not rich, but happy. I had even gotten a position as a doctor at a nearby hospital. All that changed, however, when I decided to help a member of the Agni Kai gang.

You see, I came across a severely wounded member of that gang who had just barely survived an attack from some Red Monsoons. Apparently they had left the man for dead as a form of punishment. I healed this man, but the Red Monsoons got word of this, and they didn't like that had helped their enemies.

To them that made me someone to be made an example of. So that's exactly what they did." He paused again, surveying the room for the crowds reactions, likely using it to gauge how well he was doing, and what subtle corrections he would need to do.

"On the Night of the Blood Moon the Red Monsoons struck everywhere throughout the city, and I was busy at the hospital almost all night. By the time I was able to return home it was already mourning.

When I did what I was met with wasn't a loving wife and child, but the walls of my home painted red with blood. They had done the unspeakable to my wife and child. My wife was an unrecognizable pool of bloodied remains, and as for my child, it appeared that she tried to run away, but they hunted her down like a dog.

I followed the bloodied foot and hand prints through the city before I finally found her resting place. She wasn't even a body anymore, she was just a child shaped bloodstain on the wall. As I sat their weeping I soon discovered that other members of the Red Monsoons had been waiting for me. I tried to fight back, to take revenge, but they were murderous water benders, and I was just a non-bender with no fighting experience.

They tore me apart, but didn't finish the job, instead they just left me to die, crippled with no hope of survival laying in a pool of my own child's blood." As he spoke these words he spoke them with such venom and retrained emotion, it was hard to tell whether he was on the verge of tears or about to kill a man. But despite the emotions his harrowing tale was bringing back to the surface he persevered.

"But as you can plainly see, I did not die that mourning. Instead the spirits looked on me and my plight with pity, pity and understanding. That night they saw the atrocities committed by benders and realized that giving bending to humans was a mistake, a mistake they fully intended to correct." He paused again, switching gears for a moment

If the avatar were here she might disagree, she might say that bending was the greatest thing in the world, but she would be _dead_ wrong. The hundred years war proved that fire benders were violent and ambitious enough to try to conquer the world.

The Night of the Blood Moon proved that water benders, despite having the ability to heal, have the unspeakably destructive ability to blood bend, and with that they bathed the city in blood. This is proof that benders are violent, destructive, and naturally arrogant enough to put themselves above others time and time again.

But it is not their fault.

Bending is like a _disease_. Its power convinces them that they have the _ability_ , and _responsibility_ , to take what they want in life." He paused again and made a hand motion to one of his men behind him, who proceeded to go behind the stage.

"It is for that reason that the spirits determined that they could not rely on the avatar to solve this problem, to fix their mistake.

Earlier I said that they took pity on me, and they did, and they did more than that, they gave me a gift. They gave the strength and resolve to survive my injuries, to pursue this cause, and most importantly of all, they gave me the power to correct their mistake." Once again he paused dramatically, now a man in chains and a fancy suit was being brought out by several Equalists from behind the stage.

"The spirits gave me the power to take away someone's bending…forever." He said darkly and dramatically.

The crowd gasped, to them it couldn't be true, it was impossible. Such an idea was insane, it had to be propaganda or a delusion, it had to be!

No sooner had he said this did the winds begin to pick up and howl, as if the spirits themselves were showing their angered support.

"No!" Kali gasped quietly

"I thought that was something only the avatar could do?" Asami whispered skeptically, although still in shock.

I looked over to Susanoo to see him in a scrutinizing Amon and the other men on the stage carefully. He didn't seem to be nearly as shaken by what the man had said as the others, but he did seem very suspicious about where this would be going.

And so was I.

 _I don't really know how magic sealing works in this world, but most of the methods I know have some drastic side-effects. I don't really know if he can do it, but he certainly believes he can, and the important thing is making others believe it that fiercely as well._ I thought to myself.

In my world magic sealing was a term used to describe the various techniques used to permanently seal someone's magic, or otherwise cut them off from being able to use magic. Most of the techniques were dangerous, many were illegal, and all of them were hard to do.

The idea that he had been given the ability to do this wasn't _impossible_ , as far as I was concerned, just very unlikely. If he had figured out how to do it then depending on how he did it we would have a very big problem.

 _As long as it isn't using soul magic. Please, god don't let it be soul magic._ I prayed fearfully.

Then Susanoo said, "That's Lightning Bolt Zolt" in mild surprise.

"Who?" I asked.

"He's one of the top lieutenants of the Triple Threat Triads. I don't know how they got ahold of him, but if they got Zolt then these guys are much more dangerous than I thought." He answered, concerned about the potential implications of this.

"And now for a demonstration, please welcome Lightning Bolt Zolt, an infamous criminal of Republic City." Amon said as he gave a simple introduction of Zolt, who forced further on stage. In response the crowd booed loudly, expressing their displeasure at this man.

"Ah, Boo yourselves!" The man in question angrily bit back.

"Zolt has amassed a fortune by extorting and abusing non-benders, but his reign of terror ends here. Now in the interest of fairness I will allow him to fight to keep his bending." Amon said, motioning to his lieutenant, who in turn released Zolt from his bondage.

Just then I realized that there was someone…familiar in the crowd. Two someone's, actually.

 _Wait is she?_

 _Oh god dammit._ I thought, annoyed at the prospect that a certain somebody was here, along with her friend.

I elbowed Susanoo to get his attention and then motioned for him to follow me. As I expected he did so without sound.

I tuned everything else out as I hunted down my quarry. Based on the light and sound coming from the stage I assumed the fight had started, but right now I was to focused on finding a certain somebody, and making sure they didn't fuck this up and get us all killed.

Soon I made it to the people I was searching for.

"Korra." I said sternly as I put my hand on her shoulder, gripping it tightly so she couldn't get away. I was _not_ happy with her being here.

"Ah!" She cried in surprise.

"Wha-Sarah!" Mako also cried in surprise.

"What the _**hell**_ are you two doing here?!" I angrily hissed.

"Us?! What about you?!" Mako bit back angrily. We managed to keep it down to angrily whispering though, so we cause a big disturbance.

"I had been planning to come to this thing for weeks! Besides, you two aren't exactly poster boys for the Equalists!" I angrily explained.

"What about you?!" Korra angrily countered.

"I already explained this shit to you Korra! _Multiple times_!" I explained

"Yeah well-wait what is he doing?" Korra asked as she saw something that took her attention.

Right now something had lit up the entire factory with an eerie blue light, but I didn't know what it was. I turned around and saw Amon holding Zolt's wrist, pointing his hand to the ceiling as blue lightning flew out of it. Meanwhile his other hand was on Zolt's forehead, doing…something to him.

Whatever he was doing caused the lightning that Zolt was shooting out to start dying, before finally it went out altogether and he fell to the floor. Zolt then struggled to get up, throwing a few punches at Amon in a last act of defiance, but he was in bad shape and he was nowhere close to hitting him.

Then I remembered that here magic tends to work through body movement and martial arts, so it's more likely that Zolt was trying to use magic on Amon, but couldn't.

"Well that's a relief." I said with a relieved sigh.

Mako and Korra on the other hand, were much more shaken by what they had seen.

"A relief? How is that a relief! He just proved that he _can_ take someone's bending!" Korra angrily responded, not seeing how proof of Amon's claims could be a relief.

"At least he isn't using soul magic to do it." I explained cryptically.

 _So that leaves four other options, either he's using technology I_ _seriously_ _doubt they have, drugs, or…he's telling the truth._ I thought to myself, going over the possibilities.

Korra and Mako were both stunned and confused by my statements, and it was clear on their face. Susanoo, on the other hand, was being much cooler in his response. He seemed to be analyzing anything, trying to see what he could learn from he saw, and from what I said.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked, less angry than before, but still very concerned.

"Well…you see…" Korra began, "We're here looking for…". But she was cut off by Mako.

"Bolin!" He said, pointing at the stage.

And sure enough, there he was. The Equalists had led a new group of people, all in chains, onto the stage. All of them were to have their magic sealed like Zolt, and one of them was Bolin.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of light, and then…

 **KRATHOOM!**

The thunder boomed from outside. The very _air_ quaked from its power. The windows rattled, the ground shook, and the crowd screamed in surprise. Just like that I knew.

There was no turning back, no retreat. From here on out everything would be different. I wouldn't be able to sit back and pretend everything was alright. I wouldn't let myself.

No.

For The Storm had made Landfall.

* * *

 _A/n: That's right motherfuckers, two-parter bitch._

 _Why would I do this?_

 _Because Landfall's a super chap._

 _That being said..._

 _It might be out fairly late tonight._

 _But..._

 _I might surprise myself._

 _In any case, after Landfall I'm taking a little break, cause this shit has burned me out for a bit._

 _Probably a just for a month, so don't worry._

 _"Landfall" will rap up Act 1._

 _Also, in case yoiu couldn't tell, I changed Amon's speech._

 _No more Fire benders being the source of all evil._

 _In this city it's the water benders who are feared and hated._

 _Well, the Red Monsoons._

 _It's kind of like their 9/11, but worse._

 _I mean, the city is still afraid of another Night of the Blood Moon, they never successfully counter-attacked or anything._

 _Basically the Red Monsoons are winning the war for the city._

 _In any case, War out_


	16. Scene 16: Landfall

Scene 16, Chap 16

Landfall

 **? pov**

Sarah stood there, stunned that Bolin was here. Not only was he here, but he was up on that stage in chains. Not only did this mean he was going to get his magic sealed by Amon, but it also meant that he was up there with some of the most notorious and powerful criminals of the Triple Threat Triads.

 _Why is Bolin up there with_ _them_ _?_ She thought. As far as she knew Bolin was one of the nicest, most harmless people she knew. Why would he be associated with hardened criminals and murders?

"Why is Bolin here?" She hissed angrily, seeking answers for her many questions.

"We don't have time for that! Bolin's gonna get his bending taken by Amon if we sit around pointing fingers!" Mako replied urgently.

"Yeah, I promise we'll explain everything later, we just need to focus on saving Bolin." Korra agreed

Sarah sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She had not planned on this night being so hectic. So far nothing had gone to plan today. She focused on the now, and figuring out a plan to get everyone out of this alive. In the end, with her resolve renewed, she looked back up at Korra, determination firmly set in her eyes.

"Alright, we'll save Bolin. But we are talking about this _later_!" She said firmly, pointing her finger adamantly at Korra to solidify her position. She sighed again before turning to look to Susanoo for ideas.

"So, got a plan to get all of these idiots out alive?" She asked

"hmm….actually…yes." He said after giving it some thought.

"Wait. Who is this guy?" Mako asked accusingly.

He was a fairly suspicious person, and this guy looked like trouble to him. What with his dark attire and sword. Plus there was the way Susanoo held himself, like a warrior.

"Yeah, who is he? I've never seen him before?" Korra asked, more confused than suspicious, but then she wasn't as suspicious of people as Mako was. Her naivety would get her hurt someday.

"I don't trust him, he looks like he could be an Equalist." Mako said.

Technically he wasn't wrong. Susanoo was, indeed, a few steps away from being the fiercest militant Equalist ever seen. Even his father wouldn't have been able to stop him. If only he hadn't met Kali.

Sarah, however, was not in the mood for this.

"oh mein verdammter Gott." She cursed quietly in German, "Just shut up and deal with it, I'm not in the mood for your questions or your shit." She ordered.

This shut the two of them up quite fast.

She turned back to Susanoo and asked "So, you were saying?"

"Yes, but we'll need some form of smokescreen." He explained

"Actually...there's a room filled with steam pumps and shit back there." Sarah said, pointing to the door that lead to the steam room.

"Perfect. In that case we'll need Asami and Red." Susanoo said, pleased with a solution found so quickly. He then turned to Korra and Mako and said, "when we give you the signal run up on stage and grab Bolin and any other criminals you might want to take along with you."

"Hey, Bolin is _not_ a criminal." Mako declared, defending his brother.

"If you say so." Susanoo answered dismissively, as if Mako was but a child.

He then walked off towards where they left Asami and Kali, with Sarah right behind him.

As they left Korra said, "Don't worry Mako, I trust Sarah, and if she says she'll save Bolin she will, we just have to wait until they give us the signal."

"I know, I just don't trust that Susanoo guy. He looks like trouble. Then again, so does Sarah." Mako admitted.

So, they stood there, waiting for Sarah to give them the signal to move, when suddenly something struck Mako.

"Hey, Korra?" He said, getting her attentuion again.

"Yeah?" She said

"Do you…know…what the signal is going to be?" He asked worriedly

"Uh…..no….no I don't." She said, realizing the slight flaw in the plan

"Well….shit." He said, summing up their thoughts at the moment.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to sit here and hope that whatever she does, it's obvious enough for us to notice." Korra said.

Mako sighed in resignation, knowing they really shouldn't try and do something else if there was already a plan in the works to help them out. As much as he desperately wanted to help his brother, to do _something_ to make sure they all got out of here okay, his short stint with the Triple Threats and his time on the street had taught him the dangers of letting your emotions do all the talking.

If he went in there without a good plan to save his brother, he'd just end up risking everyone's lives instead. In addition, Sarah seemed to have her own plan. He might not trust that Susanoo guy, but he trusted Sarah enough.

He knew that if he did something that worked against Sarah's plan while they were doing it, they could just jeopardize the whole thing, and potentially make the situation even worse.

He hated putting his brother's fate in another's hands, but right now he knew it was the best course of action. He would just have to hope and pray that it worked, and that he could trust this Susanoo guy.

* * *

Sarah and Susanoo, on the other hand, made their way back to their friends.

"Asami, Kali, we have a problem." Sarah hurriedly.

"You mean other than the maniacal leader of the Equalists who can take people's bending?" Asami asked sarcastically.

"Actually it's more like a complication on top of that." Sarah elaborated, and yet still dodged the actual point.

"Just tell them already." Susanoo groaned, growing tired of Sarah beating around the bush.

"Right, Bolin's here." Sarah answered

"Wait, Bolin? As in Bolin from the Fire Ferrets? Where?!" Asami asked, both confused and excited.

At this prompting Sarah pointed to Bolin on the stage and said, "Up there."

Asami and Kali turned to where she was pointing and where shocked to see the boy in chains, at the end of a line of prisoners on their way to receive their sentencing.

"Wait, why is Bolin there? Is he a gang member?" Asami asked, now even more confused than ever, but now very concerned, both by the implications of Bolin being here, and what'll happen if they do nothing.

"I don't know, you'd have to ask Mako." Sarah answered honestly.

"Wait, is Mako here?!" Kali asked with a degree of hope

"Yeah, he and Korra snuck in here to try and get Bolin out. They said it was a long story we don't have time for." Sarah explained.

"Right now we need to focus on getting Bolin out of there."

The whole time these discussions were taking place Amon was going through the imprisoned gangsters one by one, giving an impressive display of agility as he dodged their attacks, closed in, and sealed their magic. If Sarah and her friends didn't hurry then Bolin would be a broken shell of a man by the time they did.

* * *

Susanoo then explained the plan to Asami, Kali, and Sarah. The plan basically involved Asami and Kali going to the boiler room to use the water there to make a smokescreen.

And so Asami and Kali left, into the bowels of the building, with Asami leading the way. They traveled quickly through the narrow corridors before arriving at the maintenance room. The room was filled with pipes and was hot and humid from all the steam being generated and channeled there. The water clung to their skin and they began to sweat profusely from the uncomfortable conditions. Asami looked over the pipes, trying to find the best way to release enough steam to cause a good smokescreen before she was interrupted.

"What are you two ladies doing in here?" Asked a large Equalist guard who was apparently guarding this room.

"Oh, uh, I was just really interested in the engineering used in the steam-works of this place. I saw the platform rise up from a trapdoor under the stage and I wanted to see how it was done." Asami lied on the spot. Well, it wasn't a total lie, she was somewhat interested, but she already knew most of how it worked so it wasn't really a great mystery for her or anything.

This lie, however, seemed to put the guard at ease, he bought it.

"Okay, but nobody's supposed to be back here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said, reluctantly ordering these two women to leave.

It was at that moment that Asami was quite glad that she was somewhat adept at using her…feminine charms when needed.

She moved up closer to the guard, touching his left arm and said in an alluring voice, "Oh, but nobody else needs to know we're here right? Besides, I'm sure a big strong guy like you can show me _exactly_ how these _big pipes_ work."

"Oh, ha, yeah, yeah, I mean sure, I can definitely, you know, show you the…uh…stuff." The guard rambled, flustered and taken off-guard by Asami's sudden advances. It probably helped that she was quite the looker, something she gets from her mother.

As the guard stood there, completely distracted by the idea of showing off the "pipes" Asami drew closer, moving into position. She was luring him in with her body language and her flirting. The way she touched his chest, rubbed his arm, and touched his inner thigh with her leg sent shivers down his spine.

And just like that, he was caught in her trap, and it was time to strike.

Before he even knew what was happening Asami used the leg that was touching his inner thigh to pull his left leg out from under him, putting him off balance. Then she grabbed onto his left arm and crouched down, pulling his upper body down with her. He tipped over and she rolled him over her shoulder, twisting and throwing him to the ground on his back. There she held onto his left arm, stretching it towards her chest and putting her left foot on his chest to brace herself as she pulled.

The man was barely able to yelp in surprise before it turned into a short scream of pain as she dislocated his shoulder, but even that was brief. No sooner did she dislocate he shoulder than she sent a swift and strong kick with her right leg into his head, knocking him out cold.

All of this happened in the span of two seconds, a blink of the eye for Kali.

"Oh! Was that necessary? Playing him like that?" Kali questioned as she winced in empathic pain.

"It was kind of fun actually." Asami admitted with a predatory grin.

"Sometimes you scare me." Kali said slowly

"Back to the pipes." Asami said, getting back onto the task on hand.

Finally she spotted the ideal spots for Kali to access steam and water, gesturing towards the main pipes.

"Go for those, they should be connect to the main reservoir of water for this place. Giving you access to as much as you need," Asami explained.

"Okay, here we go." Kali said, reaching out with her magic.

She felt for the water and steam in each of the pipes, and there were four in total. She reached out and grabbed hold of the water and steam at a certain point in the pipes, stopping the flow, and there she let the pressure build up.

As the pressure grew she exerted control over more and more of the water and steam, and when the pressure had reached a climax she had enough. The pipes groaned and bulged under the stress, crying out for release.

Suddenly the pipes burst open, exploding with steam and water, sending it flying out of the pipes with explosive force. But before it hit them, Kali pushed it away from them, spreading her opened palms apart as if to shield them from the water, and then she gathered it all together in a large bubble of water wrapped in steam by clenching her fists and bringing them together, as if holding something shut.

Still water and steam slowly poured out of the pipe, but Kali made a motion with her foot, as if sliding something out of the way, before slamming it down. This served to stop up the water and steam around the hole in the pipe with the swipe, before freezing it shut with the stomp

She then focused her attention back on the bubble of water. Kali opened her hands up again, and spread them apart before clenching them, bringing the bubble in front of her between her hands. There she forced her hands together, condensing all the steam in the bubble back into water, making it shrink. When all of the steam was water again she forced her hands to clench into fists.

As she forced them closed the temperature of the water rose, slowly growing into a boil. The water fought to expand as it heated up, causing the pressure inside to rise, but Kali held it closed, forcing it to stay together, willing it to retain its shape and size.

Asami watched in awe as Kali turned steam into water, and then created a bubble of superheated water that she was struggling to control. She could see the bubbling that the water was doing on the inside, how it churned and writhed, trying to break free. It was like the water was alive.

Then, suddenly, Kali spread her arms far apart, causing the bubble to expand in an instant, as if exploding. All the water in the bubble suddenly turned to steam from the immense heat and sudden decrease in pressure.

"Wow." Was all Asami could say in awe of Kali's abilities.

"Just don't touch it." Kali warned.

"What?" Asami asked, not understanding.

"Right now the steam's still under a lot of pressure, this is enough steam to create a smokescreen for the entire factory after all, and it's still pretty hot. When I release it, it will mix with the much colder air, so it shouldn't burn anyone.

But right now because it's so condensed if you touched it, it would likely explode out from your finger, burning you with superheated steam." Kali explained

"And blowing your finger off." She added thoughtfully

"Oh." Was all Asami could say.

Truth be told, a part of her did, indeed, want to touch it, but Kali's warning was more than enough to deter her.

She happened to like her fingers.

Kali slowly walked over to the entrance of the room, continuing to direct the bubble in front of her. Once again she brought her clenched hands together, but this time, instead of shrinking the bubble she made it longer and more narrow, allowing her to fit it through the doorway. She continued to direct it out, moving it through the corridors, with Asami following the whole way. For most water mages of this world, this would be quite the feat, but for Kali it wasn't too much.

Not exactly child's play, but nor was it a serious exertion of her skills.

Finally they reached the door that would lead back into the main room, and with that Kali got into position. She angled her body to the door, turning it so that her left side faced it, and with her hands she moved the bubble to be beside her, sending most of it behind her and the tip of it in between her hands, which she now opened up.

She braced herself, digging in her heals, and then thrust her open palms forward. The bubble answered, the front of it bursting open and setting the steam free. The steam answered her too, spurred forward by her magic it surged forward, bursting through the door, knocking it off its hinges, before exploding into the massive factory room.

It blasted outwards with a thunderous roar causing all the audience members to run in fear of the oncoming cloud of steam, but they could never hope to outrun its fury. The people closest to the door where knocked off their feet by the sheer force of the steam cloud slamming into them, and a few unlucky ones where slightly burned by its intense heat, but nobody was seriously hurt.

But they didn't know that.

All they knew was that one minute they were watching Amon justly de-bend the notorious criminals of the city, and then suddenly, without warning, one of the doors exploded. The steam cloud just exploded outwards with a massive boom that shook the factory, sending the steam racing outwards engulfing everyone in sight. The steam was hot and blinding, and the force of slamming into them stunned them for a moment.

They were terrified.

* * *

"I'm going to go ahead and guess that that's the signal." Mako said, taking note of the cloud of steam that violently exploded from the boiler room.

"How did Sarah do that?" Mako asked as the steam expanded outwards, covering everything in a thick, hazy, hot, fog that kept them from seeing even ten feet in front of them.

"What do you mean?" Korra asked, not seeing the problem.

"Sarah's not a water bender, and I'd be surprised if that guy with her was. He looked more like a fire bender than anything else." Mako began to explain.

"And it would take a water bender to do something like this." Korra continued for him, seeing where he was going with this.

"Yeah…" He acknowledged, suspiciously looking at the cloud.

"Could you do this?" He asked, curious

"Hm?" She hummed in acknowledgement of the question as she thought about her answer.

"Yes, it wouldn't be _too_ hard, I think, though there is definitely more than a simple novice at work here. It takes a reasonable amount of skill and power for someone to be able to create a steam cloud this big and thick. Not to mention how quickly they had it expand into the room." Korra explained.

"But, at the same time, I don't exactly have a lot of experience making smokescreens using my water bending, or any of my bending, really." She conceded.

This answer seemed to satisfy Mako as he nodded in acknowledgement of the answer.

"Can you do anything about the steam?" Mako asked, wondering if she could clear up the visibility.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be too hard." Korra affirmed.

"Could you do it without drawing attention to ourselves, or giving more visibility to the Equalists?" He asked, not wanting to lose the small advantage they had.

In the meantime they began to slowly walk through the rambunctious crowd towards the stage. They might not have remembered specifically where Bolin was, but they remembered where the stage was.

"Hmmm…that would be a bit harder, but I'll do what I can." Korra responded, trying to think of the best way to do what he asked.

In the end she created a kind of bubble around them of clear air. You wouldn't really be able to notice it if you didn't know it was there, or if you weren't concentrating that hard. It cleared up there vision enough to allow them to see approximately 40 feet into the distance. Not terribly far, but much more than anyone else could see right now.

As they continued forward they suddenly… _felt_ …something. It started out small, and it was almost impossible to notice over the crowd, but as they got closer they began feel it even more.

It was a loud...pounding. It was like the thunder form the storm outside, but more rhythmic and...closer, it felt.

The tremors began to pick of their pace, the time between shakes becoming shorter and shorter. Like, whatever it was was getting closer.

"What is that?" Korra asked, worried about what the tremors meant.

"Whatever it is, it's coming from the stage. Come on, we have to hurry!" Mako said, urging them on, on the fear that whatever they were hearing was bad, and that it meant that Bolin was in danger.

Suddenly, the tremors stopped for a moment.

"Hey, they stopped." Korra noted

"What do you think that mea-" She began to ask Mako.

Unfortunately she was interrupted by the answer.

Suddenly, there was a _massive_ crack of thunder, one that put all the other ones far into shame. It sounded like a bolt of lighting hit the building directly. Then, with another thunderous **_Boom!_** The ceiling gave way in a blinding flash of lightning as dust and debris was sent flying from the bolt of lighting smashing through the roof.

A half second later there was another massive crack of thunder as another bolt of lightning came down and crashed into the stage, sending another blast of debris flying.

Up ahead, they could see a large, grey, cloud of dust on the stage, likely kicked up from whatever it was that smashed through the roof and hit the floor. The thick, dark grey, dust stood out against the silvery white of the rest of the steam, which is what allowed them to notice it at all.

With a new hole in the ceiling they were able to hear the howling winds of the storm outside and the crack of thunder, causing the roar of the crowd to turn into a deafening cacophony of sound.

Mako and Korra paused at this, the both of them worried about what _that_ meant.

"Mako, what do you think that-" She began to ask, yelling over the sound of the storm.

This time by the faint sound of a scream that cried out form the storm.

It cried out from the dust cloud a head of them.

It was joined by the sound of something breaking, and more cries of agony. Whatever was happening inside that dust cloud, it did _not_ sound pleasant.

Suddenly a body came flying out of the dust cloud, flying in between the two of them. Then it disappeared into the steam behind them. The whole way it was screaming out in agony. It was as if someone had thrown him at them.

"What was that?" Mako asked, now _very_ concerned about what was going on in that dust cloud.

They each had to yell to hear each toher at this point, thanks to the new hole in the roof.

The occasional flash of lightning brightly lit the whole room, casting eerie shadows for but a moment.

"I-I don't know." Korra answered honestly, having no idea what it was that caused that.

As they stood there, paralyzed by their fear, they could only listen and watch as they heard more people being thrown, screaming, out into the steam behind them. Each one in more pain than the last.

Then she saw it.

It was just a shadowy silhouette of it, but she saw it nonetheless.

And whatever it was had bright, glowing orange eyes and a lighted, malevolent grin filled with pointed teeth.

Who, or whatever had thrown those men off the stage was something she had never seen before, and she did _not_ want to fight it. At least not now. That being said, she would never admit that.

The stubborn fool.

* * *

For Bolin things had just gone from bad to worst. First he was captured by the Equalist and it looked like this Amon guy was going to take his bending, when suddenly steam exploded into the room, making him lose sight of everything. Then the Equalists that were supposed to be guarding him were taken out by a pair of…something.

They crashed through he floor, invading the building in a blinding flash of lightning.

He couldn't really see either one of them really well, the dust cloud one of them kicked up blocking his vision even more then the cloud of steam that popped into the factory floor. He could only see shadowy silhouettes of the people in the dust cloud, and even then, only those near him.

However, two stood out.

Most were unarmed and...well…normal. Those were the Equalists.

Two…weren't.

One was, well, not incredibly large, but had a _massive_ presence. It was about the size of a tall human, but there was no way any human could have that toothy smile. It was the only thing that stood out in that group of shadows. It shone like a beacon in the darkness, and it would have been quite comforting.

If only it wasn't filled with such bloodlust and malevolence.

Its eyes and mouth shown with an orange light, like that of a furnace. Its appearance only became more intimidating as it was filtered through the cloud of dusty, giving it a more haunting appearance. It was the smile of a hungry predator, surrounded by weak prey.

It wasn't armed either, but it didn't look like it needed weapons of any sort. Each blow hit like a hammer against the Equalists, throwing them around and knocking them out.

The other one was much different. Instead of having a massive presence, it was subtle. He would only really see flashes of it here and there. It didn't have the grin of the other, and its eye didn't shine with a bright orange light, but instead glowed softly with a dim golden glow. It moved like part of the dust cloud, flowing around its enemies and striking where they were weak.

Where the other one used its bare fists to hammer into the Equalists, this one seemed to have massive claws that cut into them, making them bleed out.

If that wasn't bad enough, it was obvious to him that they were allies. They seemed to work together in perfect harmony. Each one timing there attacks together to take out and wound as many as possible without leaving themselves open to attack.

When he saw them he _knew_.

They were spirits. Dark, Angry Spirits. What were they angry with? Likely Amon for falsely claiming for being blessed by the spirits.

That had to be it.

It was the only explanation.

So he stood there in chains, he was actually the last one in the line, if the Asami and Kali hadn't made their move when they did the he would have lost his bending. But Bolin didn't know that Sarah and Susanoo had enacted a plan to save him. He also didn't know that Mako and Korra were on their way to save him.

He was scared.

Downright terrified.

At this point he had no idea what was going on, he wasn't even sure if he would live. At least with the Equalists they just wanted to take his bending, but with spirits? Who knew? Maybe they were out for blood?

That question was answered for him when one of the spirits, the golden one with claws, cut one of the Equalists such that his blood splattered all over Bolin, marring his face with crimson stains.

Now as far as he was concerned he _was_ going to die. At least if he didn't get out of here. He looked around, spinning around looking for any signs of where he could escape but in the process he confused himself, taking any sense of direction he had, and now he couldn't even see the evil spirits.

He was drowning in terror right now, with no hope of escape. Suddenly a firm hand clasped down onto his shoulder, causing Bolin to jump in fright.

They were here, they had noticed him. Now he was next.

"Ahhh!" He cried out in surprise and terror

"Bolin! Do you have any idea the trouble Korra and I had to go through to find you?!' Mako angrily said, revealing himself to be none other than his own brother, not some evil spirit.

"Mako! I love you!" Bolin cried in elated surprise

"What about me?" Korra said indignantly.

"Korra! You're here to!" He cried, overjoyed that Korra and his brother had saved him from the angry spirits.

Mako undid the bonds holding Bolin and was quickly greeted by a hug from his brother. Tears were streaming down his face from the sheer joy of being saved from near certain death from dark spirits by his brother and Korra. He flooded with emotions and relief. He had never been so glad to see them before, and hopefully never would again.

"Yeah Bolin, we're here." Mako said, calming down and just feeling relieved that he had found his brother unharmed.

"Guys, we should get out of here. You know, before those…things come for us." Korra said interrupting the touching moment to bring them a healthy dose of realism.

Feels can come later, right now running was better.

"But where, now I'm all turned around I have no Idea how to get out of here." Mako Answered, lost in the steam.

No sooner did he say that than did the steam around them start to move, suddenly flowing out from around them and instead focusing on the center of the room, allowing them to see the outer walls and corners. The steam and moved to create corridors along the walls, allowing those near them to find their way out. By the time this happened most of the screaming from the terrified crowd stopped.

They couldn't see any of the shadowy silhouettes anymore, not even the things that resembled dark spirits.

And for a couple seconds all was quiet, like death itself.

All courtesy of Kali.

But they didn't know that.

"Um…Korra?" Mako worriedly, hoping that Korra had done that.

"Not me." She answered slowly and fearfully.

Despite being the avatar she currently had no idea whether this was the work of spirits or not. Sarah and that strange man she was with said they were going to do something about this, but they didn't specify what, and Korra doubted that they were capable of all this, at least by themselves. Sarah was strong, but she wasn't a monster, and that other guy _definitely_ didn't have claws.

"Should we trust it?" Mako asked, suspicious of the mysterious steam that coincided with the appearance of whatever attacked the Equalists.

"Well, I think that this steam thing is somehow Sarah's doing, they did tell us to wait for their signal, which was the steam, so they're at least somewhat connected." Korra answered, trying to pull together an answer based on everything she knew.

"What about those…things?" Mako asked

"You mean those Dark spirits? You saw them too?" Bolin asked fearfully

"Bolin, we don't know that they were spirits." Mako chastised, trying to hold up a strong front.

Too bad he was lying to everyone, including himself.

He was just as terrified as Bolin, they all were. They had no idea what was going on. They were tired, confused and scared.

"Then what else could they be?!" Bolin countered

To accentuate his point they heard a scream of pain from the cloud of steam in the center of the room.

Followed by another,

And another.

The sound of something being snapped, then the sound of something being crushed.

Blood flew out every which way from out of the cloud of steam and splattered with a wet _**Smack**_ onto the walls around them.

To finish it off an Equalist flew out of the steam and into the wall hard enough with a loud _**Crack**_ to send cracks though it and make an imprint.

The Equalist was bleeding from large gashes on his left leg and right arm, and his left arm was snapped in half at the forearm, and his elbow was bent backwards.

"I-is he dead?" Bolin asked timidly, hoping against hope that he was wrong.

The Equalist, broken and bloody, wasn't moving, wasn't even _twitching_ , making them all think he was dead. This wasn't the first time Bolin and Mako had seen a dead body, after all, they had lived through the Night of the Blood Moon, which took their parents form them.

Nevertheless, seeing another one, right here in front of them brought back bad memories. Bolin never truly got used to the sight of death, though Mako was more hardened against it.

Korra, on the other hand, had never seen a dead body.

Ever.

She was a virgin of death, and this was a _hell_ of a way to pop her murder cherry.

Her master, Katara, always tried to keep her away from such things, successfully, I might add. In fact, Katara taught her that killing, no matter what, was always wrong. Life was precious, and to take was to become less then human. To become a monster.

 _Adorable_ , right?

So, as a result, Korra was absolutely petrified. As brave and aggressive as she was, death was always one of the furthest things from her mind when she fought.

She _never_ fought to kill, and she never wanted to see anyone die, ever. To see some die in front of her in such a violent fashion, beaten, broken, and bloody…it was too much for her.

She froze as she stared at it, her mind moving at a thousand thoughts a second. Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore.

She turned, bent over, and emptied the contents of her stomach all over the floor in fear and disgust. She painted a vibrant collection of yellows, greens, and browns in mushy pile filled with lumpy pieces of half-digested food.

She had never felt like this before. This fear, this _terror_. She had never felt her head pound like this, to feel her fight or flight instinct scream at her to _run_.

She had never felt like her life was ever truly in mortal peril. Sure, she was an adrenaline junky to a degree, but this?

This was different.

This was death.

No,

This was _murder_.

And it _terrified_ her.

"Guys, we _have_ to get out of here." Mako trying to break them out of their dazes.

As I stated before, Mako and Bolin were no strangers to death, but the Night of the Blood Moon forced Mako to grow up and get used to death.

Is he a cold cold-blooded killer?

Certainly not, but he _is_ hardened enough to the sight of death that he was able to keep most of his wits together while the others panicked.

 _Most_ of his wits.

Suddenly another body flew out of cloud, slamming into the wall with another resound thud. He was even bloodier than the last guy, covered in cuts and limbs contorted into impossible shapes.

"Okay." Bolin agreed, even more scarred and motivated. He had definitely had enough of this place to last a lifetime, hopefully a _long_ time.

So they tried to make their escape, but the entire time they were on edge from the screams of pain and death coming from the fog. Occasionally another body would fly out, broken and bloody, and smack into the walls around them.

"Spirits!" Was all Korra could say in horror induced awe at the bloody horror show surrounding her.

"Come on!" Mako said, now he was the one urging them on.

And so they did. They were able to go forward that extra mile to the exit.

The whole way there, however, the walls were covered in blood and the bodies of the defeated.

All beaten and bloody.

It was a horror show, the likes of which Mako and Bolin hadn't seen since the Night of the Blood Moon.

Many of them were sitting in a puddle of their own blood. They were covered in large, massive gashes. Some even went down to the bone.

Others were twisted into shapes the human body was simply not meant to be in. They had bones sticking out from their broken limbs, breaking through their skin.

Finally, though, they made it. They made it through the grueling house of horrors. The night had started out bad, but it had only gotten worse. Worse than they had ever imagined. But they had survived. Everyone had survived, and everyone was okay. Everyone except…

"Wait, where's Sarah?" Korra asked.

Good question.

* * *

 _Oh, this is_ _Splendid!_ I thought excitedly, cackling madly from my perch. _Truly, I couldn't have done better with this madness if I tried. The next few years are going to be_ _Spectacular_ _!_

And just like that, in a flash I was gone.

* * *

 _A/n: So, I made some changes to this chapter._

 _by which I mean I basically re-wrote the whole damn thing._

 _None of the actual events that happened really changed too much._

 _All the important stuff that happened in the original "Landfall" happened here too._

 _Instead, the biggest changes was the change to what I showed the reader._

 _I realized I might have done somethings that...tipped my hand a bit._

 _You'll get it if you read the original chapter._

 _The major difference is actually quite obvious._

 _I just hope the changes I made make everything go int he direction I wanted._

 _Also, this chapter marks the beginning of the major divergences from cannon._

 _I'm not going to completely disregard cannon, instead I'll use it as a guideline._

 _I'll use it to see where the original story went, and what was supposed to be happening at about this time._

 _Then I'll apply the differences I've made up to this point, and see how that would change things._

 _That's actually what I've already been doing, it's just that form here on out the differences will be more obvious and distinct._


	17. Scene 17: Burgeoning Nightmares

Act II

Scene 17

Burgeoning Nightmares

 **Korra pov**

I was sleeping in my room in Mary's house when I finally woke up. I couldn't believe what I had seen the other night. Not only was Amon's ability to remove someone's bending terrifying, but so were those dark spirits that appeared at the rally. I had never seen spirits before so I wasn't completely sure what they looked like, but whatever they were, they didn't seem human. One moved like a shadow of lightning, cutting up the Equalists, and the other was a brute. It wasn't the fastest but it seemed to shrug off every blow it took, like it was immune to chi-blocking, and it was able to throw them around like they were toys. The sight of all those dead Equalists is something I'll never forget. Neither is the coldly indifferent mask of Amon.

I get up out of bed and get dressed. It was mourning. I hate mornings, but Mary would punish me for being late if I was. She would say that she had to, "Beat punctuality into you if I have to." As much as I hated it, it worked and I would always do what I could to avoid her wrath. I walked up to the door of my room, opened it, and was greeted with a surprise.

Amon.

Amon was standing on the other side of the doorway, and there was no way to get around him.

"Hello Korra. Or should I say, _avatar_." He said calmly and menacingly. His voice shaking the very foundations of my soul.

 _He knows_! I thought fearfully.

He stepped into the room, preventing me from closing the door on him. I was frozen in fear, all I could do was slowly backtrack from his advances.

"This whole time I thought you would be hiding in the South Pole, finishing up your little avatar training. But last night, the moment I saw you, I realized my mistake. You've been hiding here the whole time. Hiding from your responsibilities as the avatar." He paused

"And now you're trying to hide from me." Amon added

With each word he took a threatening step forward, getting closer and closer. I tried to back away, to get space, but it never seemed to be enough, he always seemed to be inches from my face. I shook my head in denial of his accusation, but they went past my ears, past my skin, and past my mind into my very soul.

 _What if he's right? What if I am really just hiding?_ I thought fearfully.

"But it didn't work avatar. You can't hide forever, I know where you hide and so will the White Lotus, and Katara will never let you leave again." He said threateningly, his masked face almost touching mine. I could feel his icy breath on my skin, giving me chills.

"But then, that's assuming of course that you still _are_ the avatar when they find you." He whispered in my ear before looking back into my eyes.

When I looked back into his all I could see where two pools of darkness, churning like liquid black.

I tried to fire bend at him, throwing my fist forward to shoot a fire ball into him, but I was stopped. Someone had grabbed my arm, and it _wasn't_ Amon. I looked at my right arm and saw that an Equalist soldier was holding that arm, restraining it. Then I felt a few sharp needles of pain in my left arm before numbness. I looked over to see a Chi-blocker finishing his work on it, rendering it limp and useless. I looked to my right one to see it receiving the same treatment. Before I knew it I was on the laying on the ground. None of my limbs worked and I couldn't even speak. I was surrounded by Equalists.

I was completely helpless.

"And now, avatar, I remove from this world the blight that is your existence." He said coldly as he bent down over my form.

There was nothing I could do. I was frozen, paralyzed. I, avatar, the most powerful being on the planet, was completely at the mercy of this man.

He bent down, put his hand to my head.

I had _failed._ I closed my eyes and waited for it to happen.

Then I felt something drip onto my head.

I tentatively opened my eyes, trying to see what was dripping down on me.

What I saw horrified me.

It was the severed head of Sarah, whose blood was dripping down from its savagely destroyed neck. It looked like it had been ripped off by some kind of predator, with bone sticking out of it as well as bits of the throat.

Her severed, and oh so dead head, was in the mouth of a shadowy being.

It was armored from head to toe and had a vaguely human profile, with two arms and two legs, but beyond that it was unearthly. Its armored exterior gave tiny peaks at the reptilian form underneath. Its legs bent backwards like animal's legs and it had an elongated mouth. Its head was covered in armor like a long, pointed, and round helmet with horns coming out of the back of it. Its mouth was huge and filled with two rows of teeth.

One row was filled with big razor sharp fangs made for tearing flesh, and the other was filled with large, blunt, and rough teeth made for crushing bone. The back of its throat was lit up like it opened up to a furnace, and its glow carried through and out its mouth, casting eerie shadows through the room. Its eyes were filled with this orange glowing liquid that flowed out of its eyes in a way that defied gravity. It was like they were made of molten metal and it was flowing out of its eyes and into the sky, braking apart into molten dust as it did so. It was crouched over me, pinning me to the ground.

It was the spirit from the rally

 _I found you._ Its voice rumbled in my head, shaking away any other thoughts I had.

It then clamped its mouth down on Sarah's head it had in its teeth, causing her to be loudly crushed. Her contents exploded outward, covering me in her bloody, wet, and squishy remains. I looked down and saw one of her eyeballs laying on my chest _looking_ at me, _judging_ me for my failings.

For my weakness.

For allowing this to happen to her.

Now more of her blood was dripping from its closed mouth. Dripping onto _me_. I was being covered in Sarah's blood dripping from its mouth.

I just sat lay there shaking, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream.

Nothing.

It was going to kill me.

 _I'm going to die_. I thought, drowning in the ceaseless waves of terror that I was being battered with

It then picked me up, clamping down on my shoulder to hoist me up to its level. It was so tall that my feet couldn't even touch the floor. It was holding me up with one arm, the arm holding onto my shoulder.

 _Goodbye, avatar._ It said to me in my mind before it bit me in half at the waist.

I jolted up with a sharp pain in my chest. Sweat was dripping from my face and my heart was pounding. I was still shaking. I clutched my chest as I felt for the wound. But soon I found that it wasn't there. I was back in my bed, unharmed, and fully functional. I wasn't chi-blocked. Amon wasn't here, and neither was that monstrous dark spirit. It was just a dream.

A dream.

I was okay.

I was safe.

Then I felt a dull pain in my shoulder, the one where the spirit had grabbed. I pulled my nightshirt down to look at it and I found a nasty hand shaped bruise there.

 _Or not_ I thought worriedly. I had no idea how that bruise got there, and it sent pain shooting through my shoulder whenever I tried to move it.

* * *

I came down to get breakfast and get ready for Mary's merciless training and found that Sarah wasn't here. This was unusual because she usually got up _much_ earlier than anyone else. While Mary made us get up at 7:00 Sarah would usually be up before me, which I couldn't understand.

There wasn't any specific reason that I could think as to why she would be up so early. As far as I could tell did it simply because she _could_. She _loved_ mornings, whereas I hated them. I hadn't seen her since she disappeared at the rally last night and the fact that she wasn't here this morning made me worried for her.

Apparently Mary picked up on this and said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Sarah's just staying at a friend's house. She's just fine."

"Are you sure? I didn't see her after the rally, and with that… _thing_ there I don't know if she made it out okay." I said worriedly.

At this I could see the corners of Mary's mouth pull up just a bit, giving the rare hint of a smile. She did the same thing last night when I told her about what happened.

"Trust me, I would know if Sarah was in any serious danger." Mary said in an attempt to placate me.

She never really explained what she meant by that, even when I asked.

"Hurry up and eat your breakfast, I don't want to take too long with training. I believe I've hit a breakthrough with teaching you how to use metal magic." Mary said, encouraging me to hurry up.

And so a few minute later I was done and waiting downstairs in the training room for Mary to explain. She stood there in our obscenely large basement in her silver plate dress, this one was more angular and sharp than some of the others, but it still looked like it was made of tiny silver scales.

"You see Korra, after analyzing everything you've done, I've decided to get to the heart of metal magic." She began.

"You see metal is the element of change, and as such we will change tactics and adapt as needed." She explained.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. Water is the element of change." I denied, not understanding how on earth _metal_ could be the element of change. Metal was just super tough earth right?

"Hmmm…water is more the element of flux than change." She explained with a thoughtful expression,

"Metal isn't about being in a state of constant change and flux like water, water is constantly changing, never staying the same. Metal, on the other hand, is about permanent change, innovation, inspiration, revolution, and evolution. "She elaborated.

"But Metal is just like special extra-hard earth right? And earth is the element of substance, not change. I thought metal bending was all about taking earth bending, which was all about being a rock, and taking it even further. I heard you're supposed to try and be even stronger than the steel, be the hardest rock, immovable and able to break through anything. You know, strength." I complained

That's how I had heard metal bending described to me before. I had never gotten anywhere with it though, but it made sense to me. If metal bending was just a specialized form of earth bending then it makes sense that it requires you to take the earth bending mentality to the extreme.

Mary frowned at this and chastised me by saying, "Ah the classic view of an ignorant outsider." Before lightening her expression,

"I suppose it's not too surprising though, many outsiders think of metal just being 'earth but more hardcore'. The truth of the matter is that that is more crystal magic than metal magic. While metal magic is derived from earth magic, it requires one to have a different thought process, at least if one wants to use it effectively." She explained.

"What do you mean? And what's crystal bending? I thought moving crystals was easy enough?" I asked. As usual her answer only gave me more questions.

She sighed before saying, "Crystal magic isn't simply _moving_ crystals, it's about _creating_ crystals, and with it you can create one of the hardest substances in the world from almost anywhere and use it to create anything. I'm speaking of course, of creating and manipulating diamonds. Of course that is only of specific path one can take in using crystal magic, but it is common one. Not that crystal magic is very common, mind you." Explaining crystal bending to me.

Once again, this gave me more questions than answers.

I wanted to know everything there was to know about this crystal bending. The idea of being able to create super-hard diamonds wherever I was and turn them into anything seemed incredible, and I had never heard of it before. I wanted to try it now, but Mary was able to steer us back on topic.

"Metal magic, on the other hand, is about using metal that's already there. There are, of course, hundreds of different methods of applying the simple ability to control metal, but for now we'll start with the basics, which is to simply move this." She said, pulling out a metal cube from behind her.

She tossed it towards me and I caught it with ease, only to discover that it was _much_ heavier than I thought it would be.

It was only about a foot on each side but it was so heavy that I dropped it on the ground in surprise of how heavy it was.

"Ah! Mary, what _is_ that?" I asked, very surprised by the sudden turn of events, and the fact that Mary was able to toss it like it weighed nothing.

"Your next test. Metal magic is all about adapting, innovating, changing tactics, and thinking outside the box when necessary. For this test I simply want you to lift this cube." She said simple.

"Okay, sounds simple enough." I said confidently.

I bent down to pick the cube up, squatting down to lift with my legs but I soon found that due to the fact that it was flat against the floor I couldn't get any hand holds underneath it. I tried to grab it by the sides but it was perfectly smooth and I couldn't get nearly enough grip to lift it.

"Okay, maybe not so simple. Mary, what do I do?" I asked her, acknowledging that I really had no idea how to do this. "Do you want me to try and use metal bending on it?"

"Use your head." Mary said cryptically before disappearing into the shadows.

"Use my head? What, does she mean by that?!" I said frustrated, once again getting frustrated by how cryptic and unhelpful Mary could be.

I sighed deeply, realizing that with Mary's personality she'd probably never give me a hint.

* * *

A few hours later I was still trying to figure out how to lift the block. After trying over and over again to get a good grip I had only determined just grabbing it wasn't going to work. At the same time, however, I wasn't sure how to lift it.

Maybe Mary wanted me to tap into my bending to lift it that way. I could try to use metal bending on it, I haven't actually made a serious effort to _try_ metal bending yet. Who knows, maybe it'll come as easily as the other forms did. It can't be any harder than air bending. At least I can earth bend, I pretty good at it too. I can't even manage a puff of air bending, so I have a starting point.

In any case, attempting to lift an incredibly heavy cube of metal for several hours had left tired and hungry. Despite not _actually_ lifting it, I had still strained my muscles in the attempt. So, I decided to take a break. I still had several hours until I was supposed to meet up with Mako and Bolin at 3:00.

As I was busy preparing my meal, I got surprised by a familiar face.

"Hey" She whispered into my ear.

"Ah!" I screamed as I jumped a meter into the air and turned around in a rudimentary bending stance.

What I saw was Sarah looking at me with the same clothes she had on yesterday, and a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Oh, looks like someone's jumpy." She teased.

What she didn't expect, however, was for me to rush over to her and give her a bone crushing hug.

Well.

For most people it'd probably be bone crushing.

Sarah, to her credit, just said "Ughf!" as I collided into her.

A moment later, once the shock wore off, she hesitantly returned the hug, giving me a quizzical look at the same time.

"Not that I…mind…the hug, but it is a bit…random…." She commented. "And…awkward."

"Oh! Right." I said, realizing what was happening. I looked sheepishly at her, blushing slightly at what I considered my childish response to her return.

"No, it's okay, I'd just like to know the occasion. I mean, it's not like you do that every time you see me." She asked, then she raised a brow will narrowing her eyes with…curiosity, I believe, though it was somewhat difficult to tell what emotion was dominating her at the moment.

"Or…is this going to become a thing?" She asked

"Er, what?" I said, blushing harder. I'm not really sure what she meant, and I'm really confused why my face is heating up.

"Not that I'm…averse to it. Your hugs are nice, it's just…really fucking random." She added, confused.

The familiar sound of Sarah cursing me again shook me out of the thoughts my subconscious was bringing up.

"Um, yeah, I guess I can see that. It's just….I'm glad to see you back here. Alive and well." I answered.

Instead of answering all her questions, it only seemed to confuse Sarah more.

"Huh?" She asked "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because! The rally! All those people died! I-I was scared you were one of them when you didn't come back last night." I explained, my voice cracking when I remembered the dream of Sarah dead, killed by that monster.

"Oh." She said softly in understanding. Then her face scrunches up in confusion.

"Wait, died?" She asked with a raised brow

"Yeah, I saw all those dead Equalists, killed by that…spirits I don't know what they were." I said, still shaken by what I saw.

Sarah blinked, then said blandly, "Korra…nobody died."

"Wait, what?" I questioned.

No…that couldn't be true. The condition of those Equalists… no one could live through that.

"Yeah, no, they were alive. Fucked up, but alive. I checked." She explained simply.

"But-but, how? I mean, I saw some of them contorted into shapes people just weren't meant to be in." I responded.

"Er, yeah, I guess that's true." Sarah responded in an odd tone, looking down at the ground while rubbing the back of her neck.

"But, fortunately enough, there was a medic nearby. So yeah! No one died!" She finished explaining cheerfully.

"Oh, okay. That's good, I'm glad no one died." I responded relieved that no one got killed after all. " I hope I never see….whatever it was…that did that to those people. That…thing…was like some kind of monster. Like, an angry spirit. Both of them were."

Sarah once again got that odd look on her face. She even looked somewhat shameful. Then she shook her head, getting those thoughts away from her, before looking back at me.

"So, speaking of the rally…" She began, narrowing her eyes in annoyance.

I gulped as I had a feeling we were going to have that discussion she spoke about earlier.

"Y-yeah?" I asked nervously, signaling for her to continue.

"Why the hell were you guys at the rally. More importantly, why the fuck was Bolin up on stage like the rest of the prisoners?" She asked, glaring at me.

So I told her the entire story. I started somewhat nervously, worried about how Sarah would react. But as I kept going Sarah stopped glaring, and I got more confidence. By the time I was done, she actually had a smile on her face.

A smile!

It eventually turned into chuckling, then full on laughter with the grin of someone who knows something special.

"Oh man, the universe is hilarious sometimes." She muttered after getting a hold of herself.

She looked me in the eye and said, "Korra, I just want you to know that you are incredibly lucky to be my friend, and that I'm the type of person I am."

"Huh?" I responded, not knowing where she was going with this.

"It's just, the fact that you all were at the rally because you were looking for money, and _that's_ why you weren't at the ring's gym…" She said as she trailed off into another round of chuckles.

"What?!" I asked more forcefully, getting annoyed by her not getting to the point. It was so unlike Sarah to do this, normally she was more direct while Mary was the evasive one.

"Sorry." She said, sounding very much _not_ sorry. "It's just…If you knew what I knew you would realize that God has an amazing sense of both irony, and humor."

"Wait God? What are you talking about?" I asked, not understanding where she was going with this.

"It'll make sense later, I just want you to tell the boys to be in the arena at the beginning of next week. I have someone they'll really want to meet. Oh, and don't worry about funds, I'll be taking care of it." She responded.

"Wait, no! I can't ask you to do that!" I said, not wanting Sarah to pay for our team. I didn't want to do that to my friends, to…use them like that. It felt…wrong.

"No, no, I insist. Besides, _I'm_ not paying a damn thing." She explained, cryptically though.

Seeing my pout at the lack of answers she put her arm around my shoulders in a one-armed hug and said, "Don't worry about it. Everything will become clear next week. I just need to make sure you and the guys don't run off again like you did yesterday."

"Okay." I acknowledged reluctantly.

I didn't like not knowing like this, but I trusted Sarah. If she said she could help us out, I believed her.

* * *

 **? pov**

Tarrlok was in his office, looking over all the information his informant had given him. She was considering eventually going to go sell this news to the papers, but she wanted to give it to him first. He was paying her very well to get stuff like this, and this information just proved how good a decision making her a personal informant for him was.

At first, he wasn't quite convinced about what she told him. He thought it might not actually be worth it. I mean, he was throwing a lot into this, possibly even risking his career for this little "investment" of his.

But…

This right here?

This information could have already made his investment worth it.

Since he got this info before the papers, he could spin to his advantage. He could use this information to help him snuff out this group of dangerous, rebellious, anarchists, while at the same time making him the savior of the city in the eyes of the masses.

Normally, there might be some public backlash from his plan to take care of these "Equalists", but since he was in control of this information, he twist it just the way he wanted.

The council wouldn't be any problem at all for him. Ever since the Night of the Blood Moon, everyone in the council was either in the direct pocket of the gangs, or too scared of them to resist.

The Agni Kais and Triple Threats had the Earth and Fire councilors, respectively, while the Red Monsoons had both the Northern and Southern Water Tribal councilors under their thumb.

And Tenzin?

There might have been a time when he would have resisted, doing whatever he thought was right in some misguided attempt to honor his father's legacy, but now?

After the Night of the Blood Moon?

After losing two children?

Well, let's just say the Red Monsoons made their point to him.

Technically, Tarrlok was the "handler" of the Southern Water Tribe councilor. Tarrlok _is_ , officially, part of the gang. The Southern Water Tribe Councilor is just afraid of them and does what they say.

At first the gang paid the poor guy bribes, but then they realized it was just cheaper to scare the coward into doing whatever they wanted. So whenever they want him to do something specific, Tarrlok just… _suggests_ …that it would be a good idea to do something.

Tarrlok, through time, effort, loyalty, and his own heritage, actually managed work his way into a rather high position on the Red Monsoons, managing to make it into the inner circle. He's basically their public relations guy.

Well, one of them.

Being one of the inner circle means that he has a lot of power, autonomy, and leeway regarding his position. He's one of the more public members. Everyone knows he's part of the gang, but no one can do anything about it.

One of the most open secrets in the city, really.

In any case, he's responsible for taking care of the gang's interests in the political ring. The fact is, despite being what some may consider corrupt, the truth of the matter is that he's actually quite loyal and faithful.

He doesn't work for the Red Monsoons just because they pay him well.

None of the inner circle do.

Everyone part of the inner circle, including the boss, is where they are because of their loyalty. They all _believed_ in the Red Monsoons, that they were doing what was best for the gang, for their people, and for the city.

Well, in their own special, delightfully twisted, way.

So, as a result, Tarrlok could never be bribed into whatever somebody else wanted. And he was too powerful to be intimidated into doing what others wanted, or killed.

Despite the councilors being representatives of the different nations, the nations didn't actually have much impact on the city itself. They tried, but the gang's grip on the city was too strong for them to actually do anything about it. The result was that the councilors usually represented their respective gang, not country, in the council.

Most people thought that because of that, every day in the council was some kind of verbal gang war.

In reality, the council was surprisingly civil.

I mean, sure, there was the occasional shouting match, but overall, they were usually in agreement or solved with arrangements and exchanges. The council was how the gangs kept the peace between them, and how the city didn't erupt into another gang war.

Many of the current councilors were put in place after the Night of the Blood Moon, after the end of the last gang war.

Despite Tenzin being threatened by the Red Monsoons, his actual role was something of a tie breaker, in the rare event there was a deadlock. He didn't always side with the Red Monsoon councilors, but he never really went against him. He would just throw in his opinion if he thought one thing made more sense than another.

The fact was, unlike the other councilors, Tenzin didn't have any massive power behind him, meaning everyone could intimidate him equally. None of them would threaten him if he just did his job, but if he tried to play hero again and restrict the less reputable activities in the city?

Well, let's just say even an air bending master knows better than to anger every gang in the city after the Night of the Blood Moon.

In any case, Tarrlok decided he was going to take information this critical to the rest of the inner circle to decide which course of action would be best. The Equalists were a threat to everyone in the city. Their anarchistic and anti-bender ideals would threaten to destroy everything they had built up.

The system, while not necessarily perfect, is what kept this city strong and independent.

Without it, it would be chaos in the streets again.

Once the inner council decided what their official stance would be, he would bring this issue to the rest of the council to see what they had to say about it.

Tarrlok wasn't worried though.

Concerned?

Yes.

But he was confident that these Equalists would meet their end soon enough. They may have thought they were strong, but they were just a bunch of rowdy non-benders who took down a few two-bit thugs. While his informant wasn't able to actually identify _who_ Amon and the Equalists took, they couldn't have been _that_ skilled if they were taken out by a bunch of non-benders.

What was slightly more concerning where the…things…that his informant informed him interrupted the rally. She didn't know what they were, and she didn't know where they came from.

That worried him.

While the Equalists were a relatively known quantity, having a pair of individuals with good teamwork and combat skills running around doing whatever the hell they wanted was much more troublesome. Considering he didn't have much to work with in regards of motives since he only knew of one attack, he could only speculate about why they did what they did, and when and where they would do it again.

That being said, he had learned long ago that simply speculating when you had so little info was a recipe for disaster and unwelcome surprises.

"This is going to require a lot of drinks, isn't it?" He sighed, asking to no one in particular, already feeling the headache coming in.

 _Yes. Yes it is_. I thought back.

* * *

 _A/n: I'm back, bitches._

 _It's nice to be back, real nice._

 _Now, if you couldn't tell, I made some changes over November and right before I posted this chapter._

 _I re-wrote scene 1 and 6 a bit, and did some alterations and corrections to the others._

 _then there's "Landfall"_

 _If you've already read "Landfall", you'll notice the difference immediately._

 _If you haven't..._

 _...Don't worry about it._

 _No need to panic though, everything that happened that chap still happened, I just changed what the readers saw._ _I felt that, after re-reading everything, that I tipped my hand a bit too early._

 _So I decided to fix that._

 _Now, me telling you about it does kind of draw more attention to it, but not that many people read it in the first place so I'm not too concerned._ _I'd rather make it better for readers going forward, then simply accommodate readers in the past._

 _That being said, I'll try to never change anything major, like who's alive and who's not, or completely change an entire big event to change the rest of the story._ _At most I'll try to only change how I present the story, not the actual events themselves._

 _But forget that stuff, what's more important is what's going on now_

 _Fact is, this is the chapter where some of the differences that happened before start to produce notable affects._

 _This episode in particular will be quite hard because of what's supposed to happen in it._

 _In this episode, according to cannon, Korra and the guys are supposed to meet Asami, and Tarrlok is supposed to recruit Korra as the Avatar to his task force. Other things happen too, but they're all a result of that._

 _I'm sure you can see the problem now._

 _I'll work around it, don't worry about that. The consequences of the changes, though, will certainly be... interesting._

 _In any case, war out._


End file.
